Tuberville Blockade Over Abortion Policy Threatens Top Military Promotions
But that process can be extraordinarily time-consuming given the Senate’s rules and customs, and trying to confirm each of the hundreds of promotions individually could tie the chamber in knots. That may be the point for Mr. Tuberville, who has co-sponsored legislation to declare that life begins at conception and filed a brief in support of the Mississippi law prohibiting abortion at 15 weeks that was upheld in last year’s Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Senate Democrats have challenged Mr. Tuberville at least a half-dozen times on the Senate floor to stop holding military promotions hostage, and the Armed Services Committee has continued to hold confirmation hearings for high-ranking nominees, in the hopes that the Alabama senator might relent. Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff and President Biden’s pick to succeed Mr. Milley as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Gen. Randy A. George, the Army’s vice chief of staff whom Mr. Biden nominated to take over as Army chief, are both scheduled for hearings this week.
But their efforts have thus far failed to dissuade Mr. Tuberville, who has dismissed his critics by arguing that Senate leaders have options to resolve the impasse. He has suggested that Congress pass Republican-sponsored legislation to reverse the Pentagon’s abortion access policy — or a competing Democratic bill to give the policy the force of law. He has dared Senate leaders to circumvent his blockade by voting on the promotions individually, arguing that he would be ready to approve some promotions if forced to take a vote.
But Senate aides say none of his suggested offramps are workable. Senate leaders believe it would be nearly impossible to collect enough votes, between the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-led House, to send legislation either affirming or overturning the Pentagon’s policy to the president’s desk. And they are queasy about trying to get around Mr. Tuberville’s protest procedurally because of the amount of time it would take to plow through the Senate’s arcane hurdles for all the nominations he is holding up.
Source: The New York Times
