Key Dems try to rachet up pressure on Tuberville to nix military promotion holds

WASHINGTON – A key group of Senate Democrats urged GOP leader Mitch McConnell on Monday to “exercise leadership” and get Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville to end his monthslong hold on military confirmations.

“As the leader of the Republican Conference, we count on you to hold your colleagues accountable when they recklessly cross boundaries and upend senatorial order,” eight Dem members of the Senate Armed Forces Committee wrote to the Senate Minority Leader.

“Sen. Tuberville’s continuation of this stalemate is reckless, dangerous and must end,” they added.

Since February, Tuberville (R-Ala.), a member of the Armed Forces panel, has refused to help confirm the nominations of more than 280 military officers to leadership positions in protest of the Pentagon’s policies allowing leave and paid travel for women to seek reproductive care such as in-vitro fertilization and abortion.

Military confirmations are routinely approved as a group through unanimous consent by the SASC.

Without unanimous consent, each nominee must then be considered separately by the Senate, which is an extremely drawn-out, time-consuming process — especially when it comes to hundreds of nominations.

There are 26 total members on SASC: 14 Democrats and 12 Republicans.

Tuberville is the sole member to refuse to approve the nominations.

McConnell has spoken out against Tuberville’s balking, but the SASC Democrats urged him “to take stronger action” to influence the freshman senator and former Auburn University football coach to end his protest.

“It falls to you to act now, for the safety and security of our nation,” the group wrote McConnell. “We urge you to exercise your leadership and prevail on Senator Tuberville to end his reckless hold.”

Senior US defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have said the hold-up endangers national security, since officials have left empty some of the most vital military leadership positions.

For example, the Marine Corps currently has no confirmed top leader after the retirement of commandant Gen. David Berger earlier this month.

The SASC Democrats – Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Angus King of Maine, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Jacky Rosen of Nevada – chided Tuberville for holding the confirmation process hostage instead of using his congressional powers to write a bill to change the Pentagon policy.

The policy, enacted by Austin after the Supreme Court ended the federal right to abortion when it reversed “Roe v. Wade” last summer, was not put into place by law and could be nixed by Congress if enough lawmakers were to agree.

“Although there are numerous ways to legislatively change this policy, Sen. Tuberville has
failed to convince a majority of the Senate to agree with his position,” the SASC Democrats wrote. “He continues to try to force his personal beliefs on the women and men who volunteer to serve our country, creating unnecessary havoc and punishing service members for a policy they had no part in writing.”

The dispute comes as the military also faces the retirement of Chief of the Joint Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley next month.

Should Tuberville fail to act to help confirm nominee Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the nation will be without a top officer overseeing the military.

Also in August, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday intends to retire next month.

President Biden on Friday nominated Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti to become the new CNO, but Tuberville has said he has no intention of giving up his boycott.

“In the coming months, more than half of the current Joint Chiefs are required to vacate their posts, and
due to Senator Tuberville’s stonewalling, they’lI do so without a Senate-approved successor in
place,” the Dem senators wrote. “During this time of heightened global tensions, failing to fill these critical positions is not only imprudent but risks our national security.”

But it’s not just top leaders in Washington who are affected.

Should Tuberville continue his hold, the number of unconfirmed positions will grow to involve nearly 650 general and flag officers by the end of the year, according to the Pentagon.

“Mission vacancies such as this will continue hindering Pentagon operations,” the SASC members wrote.

“In new domains of potential conflict, holds on positions such as the Director of the National Security Agency who commands the US Cyber Command, jeopardize our systems at a time when adversaries are exploiting any perceived weakness in America’s defense.”