Lee Heidhues 11.2.2023
In my wildest Pacifist dreams I never imagined a Republican, from Alabama no less, would single handedly apply the brakes to the humongous American military machine. I can still be surprised.
Former football coach now Senator Tommy Tuberville has succeeded in pissing off the Pentagon, his fellow Republican senators and millions of women who want the right to control their bodies.
What’s his problem? He doesn’t believe the Pentagon should pay for women to travel to states where abortion is legal to terminate their pregnancy. The past nine months he has placed a “Hold” on Senate confirmation for approximately 350 nominees who require a Senate vote.
Just imagine the uproar if Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren were engaging in a similar stunt.
Excerpted from The New York Times 11.2.2023
In a clear sign that pressure is building, a handful of Republicans took to the Senate floor on Wednesday night to excoriate Senator Tommy Tuberville (R- AL) for his tactics, which have held up more than 350 senior military positions. They attempted to call up scores of pending promotions for military officers one by one, insisting he quit blocking them — which he refused repeatedly to do.
On Wednesday night, Mr. Tuberville shot down 61 separate requests to let nominees be confirmed.
“No matter whether you believe it or not, Senator Tuberville, this is doing great damage to our military,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, in one such floor speech on Wednesday night. “If this gets to be normal, God help the military, because every one of us could find some reason to object to policy.”
The policy Mr. Tuberville is targeting, announced in February, allows service members to take leave and be reimbursed for transportation expenses if they must travel to obtain an abortion or certain fertility treatments because such procedures are not available where they are based.
It came in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade, which prompted many states to move to ban or severely restrict abortion. Some doctors and legal experts fear the ruling could also eventually lead to new curbs on in vitro fertilization.
The spectacle on the floor marked the breakdown of months of behind-the-scenes negotiations in which Republicans publicly defending Mr. Tuberville’s actions and blaming Democrats and the Pentagon for failing to accommodate him have privately pleaded with the Alabama senator to relent.
“I will keep my hold in place until the Pentagon follows the law or the Democrats change the law,” he declared.
Despite their palpable frustration, none of the five Republicans challenging Mr. Tuberville on Wednesday night pledged to sign onto the Democrats’ proposal.
“I’m hoping we can find an alternative to that, but something needs to give here,” Mr. Graham said.
Still, Senator Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, said he had not ruled it out, and other Republicans refrained from doing so as well.
“I don’t like Mr. Tuberville’s technique of making his point, and I think it’s getting to a breaking point, quite frankly,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia. “So we’ll see if the resolution comes up.”
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