“If you think it’s illegal, go to court,” he went on, adding that “if this gets to be the norm, you’re going to wreck the military promotion system.”
Tuberville responded to the accusations by firmly denying his blockade is negatively impacting the nation’s military readiness, a position he has held for months.
“My hold is not affecting readiness,” Tuberville said. “The Biden administration has been saying this for months, but nobody has an explanation, nobody. The fact is that no jobs are going unfilled. Every job is being done. In fact, Gen. Mark Milley [the recently retired head of the military joint chiefs of staff] said recently that our readiness is the best that it has been in years.”
“Time and again generals and service members have assured me that they’re ready to go,” he went on. “I believe them, so I’m going to keep my holds in place.”
According to Tuberville, his hold is not only about abortion but also about following the rule of law.
“Nine months ago, the Pentagon announced that they would start using our taxpayer dollars to facilitate abortion. The Pentagon is now paying for travel and extra time off for service members and their dependents to get abortions. Congress never voted for this, we also never appropriated the money for this,” he said. “There’s no law that allows them to do this. In fact, there is a law that says they can’t do this.”
Tuberville was referring to the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal tax dollars from being used for abortion.
“This is a policy that is illegal and immoral,” he went on. “This is about life and it’s also about the rule of law, it’s about our Constitution.”
While the small group of Republicans, along with the White House and Senate Democrats, accused Tuberville of playing politics with military readiness, Tuberville said Democrats are to blame because they failed to bring individual promotions to a vote sooner.
“This has been going on for nine months. Every day this continues is a day that Democrats think that abortion is more important than the nomination and our military,” he said. “If senators want to vote on these nominees one by one, I’m all in, I’m happy to do that. But I will keep my hold in place until the Pentagon follows the law or the Democrats change the law.”
Military promotions approved in individual votes
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The Senate individually approved the nominations of several top military officials on Thursday, something Tuberville has repeatedly pushed for. The three are among several senior military officers who have been confirmed in individual votes by the Senate since Tuberville’s blockade began.
Though Tuberville has thus far been successful in forcing individual votes on the promotions, Wednesday’s debate displayed the growing disunity of Republicans’ approach to the Biden administration’s abortion policy in the military.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Jack Reed introduced a resolution on Tuesday to allow the senior military promotions to be grouped together and passed in a single vote. At least nine Republicans would have to vote in favor of Reed’s resolution for it to successfully bypass Tuberville’s blockade.
Peter Pinedo is a DC Correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.