Senate Circumvents Tuberville’s Blocks on Military Confirmations

Facts

• The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, getting past Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) blocks on military nominations by holding a full vote of the body.¹
• The Senate did the same to confirm Gen. Randy George as Army Chief of Staff on Thursday, and it’s expected to confirm Gen. Eric Smith as commandant of the US Marine Corps by the end of Thursday.²
• Tuberville since March has been imposing a hold on military nominees as a form of protest against the US Dept. of Defense's policy of reimbursing servicemembers for travel done to obtain an abortion.³
• Typically, military promotions that require Senate confirmation are done by unanimous consent. To go around Tuberville’s holds, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) forced a vote by invoking cloture — a step to end debate on a topic — before the Senate confirmed Brown 83-11.⁴
• Tuberville, who said he doesn’t disapprove of holding votes on the nominees, also said he would continue the holds unless the Pentagon reverses its policy.⁵
• Approximately 300 high-level military positions are vacant because of Tuberville’s holds, with the number expected to increase by the end of the year.⁶

Sources: ¹NPR Online News, ²Associated Press, ³Daily Caller, ⁴CBS, ⁵Al Jazeera and ⁶Washington Post.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by Townhall. Schumer could have called these votes months ago, but he and the rest of the Democrats were too busy trying to paint Republicans as bad actors. Tuberville is just standing up for the right to life and the rule of law – which is fully in his rights – but Democrats are determined to smear him and any Republicans who stand up for conservative values.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by CNN. Despite these confirmations, Sen. Tuberville’s holds on hundreds of other nominations put the country’s national security and military readiness at risk. Voting on each nomination would take an inordinate amount of time, and would empower senators to take similar action any time they want to make a statement about a political issue. If Tuberville really cares about the US, he’ll drop his blockade.