After nine months of single-handedly holding up hundreds of confirmations of U.S. military officers, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) reportedly has promised his fellow Republicans he will find a way to end his blockade before Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moves forward on his plan to force a vote on the nearly 400 promotions.
Few Republicans have publicly supported Tuberville’s blockade, a massive disruption to the readiness of America’s fighting forces. Tuberville first claimed he was holding up the promotions because the Pentagon put in place a policy to reimburse travel expenses of military personnel who require abortion health care services.
Then he claimed it was because Pentagon leaders refused to discuss the policy with him.
Then he claimed it was because President Biden’s military was too “woke,” as he personally attacked individual military officers for what he saw as their inappropriate beliefs. One member of the U.S. military Senator Tuberville attacked for having “celebrated Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
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Tubervlle also defended his blockade by claiming the U.S. Armed Forces has too many officers. In September, he said he had put the hold on hundreds of officers because “we’re not a communist country.”
At one point Tuberville’s devastating holds had left three service branches of the Armed Forces without Senate-confirmed leaders, a position that is “putting our national security at risk” said the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force in rare public remarks.
In September, Tuberville’s blockade had “actively eroded” “the foundation of America’s enduring military advantage,” according to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who made their remarks in a joint Washington Post op-ed. “Any claim that holding up the promotions of top officers does not directly damage the military is wrong — plain and simple.”
“There is nobody more military than me,” “Coach” Tuberville infamously said over the summer, when his hit list holding up promotions requiring Senate confirmation had just reached 265 U.S. Military officers. Tuberville’s remarks were not well-received, especially since, as multiple news outlets reported, he had never served in America’s Armed Forces, and had been caught misrepresenting his father’s World War II military record.
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But now, Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reports, “Tuberville told Senate R’s in closed-door lunch: ‘Listen, everyone. I got y’all into this mess. I’m gonna get you out.'”
“For [the] first time, Tuberville vows to end military promotions standoff *before* Schumer puts Rules resolution on floor—to avoid putting R’s in tough spot.”
“People are just getting exhausted,” one Senate Republican told Desiderio.
Desiderio also added, “Tuberville’s expected to telegraph new strategy soon.”