Critics including military experts are blasting one Republican U.S. Senator whose refusal for five months to release his hold on hundreds of promotions will leave the United States Marine Corps with no permanent leader for the first time in over a century. Next month, the U.S Army will suffer a similar crisis, when its Chief of Staff is forced to retire. And then the U.S. Navy’s Chief of Operations. In October, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also retire.
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, critics say, is “directly harming the military readiness and national security of the United States,” for refusing to release his hold on about 250 military promotions.
PBS Newshour reports the Alabama freshman Republican lawmaker says he’s doing it because he opposes the military’s policy to transport service members who are seeking abortions to states that allow them if they are stationed in states that have imposed bans.
“For the first time in over a century, the U.S. Marine Corps will not have a permanent leader. Current Marine Corps Commandant David Berger is required to retire on Monday, but due to a hold on hundreds of military promotions by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, there is no confirmed replacement,” PBS says.
Sen. Tuberville, a retired college football coach who infamously was unable to identify the three branches of government after his election, and has a history of racist and pro-white nationalist remarks, is also upset because U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has called him only once, and is refusing to negotiate.
Tom Nichols, a retired professor at the U.S. Naval War College, and now a writer for The Atlantic, pointing to PBS’s report Friday called it, “Your daily ‘Tommy Tuberville is directly harming the military readiness and national security of the United States’ update.”
Calling it “unprecedented,” U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), who serves on the Intelligence Committee, has repeatedly criticized Tuberville’s hold on the promotions. He says for 230 years the U.S. Senate has approved these promotions “as a matter of course.”
“No Senator has ever put a blanket hold on the promotions of flag officers” before. “There’s a good reason for that, because if people were willing to play politics with that, they’re playing politics with our national security.”
VoteVets.org, the non-profit and PAC that works to support veterans and progressive policies, says, “Tommy Tuberville is hurting our national security and endangering your life. All to impose his radical right-wing social engineering ideas on our military.”
Last week, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a former captain in the U.S. Marines, also slammed Tuberville.
“I don’t ever want to hear Republicans claim that they are the party of patriotism when their own Senator Tuberville is single-handedly jeopardizing our military readiness with seemingly little resistance,” he said, “all because he doesn’t want women in uniform to access healthcare.”