Sen. Tuberville Continues Military Nominations Blockade

Facts

• US Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is continuing his months-long blockade of military nominations in protest of the Biden administration's abortion policy. In response to Democrats' call to end the blockade due to Hamas' attack on Israel, a Tuberville spokesperson said they must move top nominees individually until the Pentagon revokes its policy of covering travel costs for troops seeking an abortion that crosses state lines.¹
• Military promotions are usually processed en masse, but senators have the power to require individual roll-call votes for each one, which has led to over 300 nominees awaiting confirmation. Among them are Pres. Biden's nominee to be the Navy’s top officer, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and Gen. David Allvin, nominated to lead the Air Force, with both currently serving the job on an acting basis.¹
• The Senate last month was able to conduct votes for Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — coming four months after he was nominated — as well as Gen. Randy George as Army chief of staff and Gen. Eric Smith as commandant of the Marine Corps. The Senate could vote to change the rules, but that would require a two-thirds vote.²
• As Tuberville's decision has halted several confirmations for those who would lead the military in the Middle East, Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed said, 'The severity of the crisis in Israel underscores the foolishness of Senator Tuberville's blockade.' He added that the US 'needs seamless military leadership in place to handle dangerous situations like this.'³
• To expedite the process and confirm the nominees in masse would require approval from all 100 senators, which can't happen until Tuberville lists his block on the Pentagon's abortion policy. Until then, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will have to call each of the nominees individually, which can take hundreds of hours to complete.²
• This comes as Schumer is leading a bipartisan group of senators on a trip to China this week, which means the upper chamber likely won't be able to conduct individual votes in the days ahead.³

Sources: ¹Politico, ²NBC and ³Business Insider.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by Guardian. First and foremost, Tuberville's blockade is in protest of a healthcare policy that is widely supported within the military. To risk the combat readiness of the US military when one of its closest allies is under attack is both hyper-political and dangerous. There's no time to waste, but Senator Tuberville would rather focus on his culture war issue of abortion than fill the most important armed forces positions in the country.
• Republican narrative, as provided by New York Post. If the Democrats truly cared about the Pentagon filling its positions, they wouldn't be focused on hyper-permissive abortion policies. Sadly, the Biden White House is so obsessed with the issue that it's willing to sacrifice the nation's combat readiness over something that has nothing to do with national defense. Tuberville's approach is about decoupling national security from woke politics.

Predictions