After Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., partially ended his 10-month-long blockade on military promotions Tuesday, 440 service members moved up in the ranks.
Tuberville told NBC reporters, “I’m releasing everybody — I’ve still got a hold on, I think, 11 four-star generals. Everybody else is completely released from me.”
The decision came a week after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the Rules Committee “acted on a resolution” that would allow the Senate to process the nominations quickly.
In February 2023, the Pentagon issued a memorandum authorizing service members and dependents “travel allowances” to areas where abortion is legal and available, if access to abortion is limited where they live.
To voice opposition to the Pentagon’s abortion policy, Tuberville has been blocking military promotions since February.
When his blockade began at the beginning of 2023, Tuberville explained his reasoning. He said, “The Secretary of Defense is following through with his radical plan to facilitate thousands of abortions a year with taxpayer dollars. So, I will follow through with my plan to hold all Department of Defense civilian, flag, and general officer nominations that come before the U.S. Senate.”
Four Republican senators criticized Tuberville’s tactics
During a Nov. 1 Senate hearing, Tuberville met opposition from Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Todd Young R-Iowa.
Sullivan explained that he also uses holds, but “the key is that you put a hold on someone who typically has some kind of control over the issue that you’re trying to fix.”
He claimed the correct person to put a hold on would be “the Secretary of Defense for policy.” He said, “He’s the guy! He’s a civilian! And he’s in charge of this policy dispute ... Why are we putting holds on war heroes? I don’t understand.”
During his weekly press conference, Schumer said, “One thing I would say, Sen. Tuberville, I hope no one does this again,” per the Washington Examiner.
“I hope they learned the lesson of Sen. Tuberville. That is, he held out for many, many months, hurt our national security, caused discombobulation to so many military families who have been so dedicated to our country, and didn’t get anything he wanted. It was a useless strategy that did not succeed,” he said.
On the other hand, Utah Sen. Mike Lee consistently supported Tuberville during the blockade, and said in an X post on Tuesday, “@SenTuberville fought courageously for unborn Americans and the rule of law. His opponents threatened to forever destroy Senate procedure to get their way, and today he is acting to protect our institution from them. Hero.”
New NDAA budget may drop the abortion provision in 2024
The House of Representatives is working to pass the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024, but Republican-supported amendments were dropped that would have prohibited the “payment and reimbursement by Department of Defense of expenses relating to abortion services” and the “coverage of certain sex reassignment surgeries and related services under TRICARE program.” The conference version of the bill was released Thursday.
The bill will have to be voted on in the House and the Senate before getting signed by the president before it goes into effect.