Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville has been on a one-man crusade to get the Pentagon to change its policy on paying for military members to travel to receive an abortion. His eight-month campaign has resulted in the delay of 400 nominations, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be chief of Naval Operations, Gen. David Allvin to be Air Force chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to be assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.
Democrats have finally decided enough is enough and will offer a resolution that would allow military nominations to be confirmed all at once instead of one at a time— an effort that would spoil Tuberville’s campaign to hold up military promotions.
The resolution on the new rule was passed out of committee by a 9-7 vote. Republicans are mostly opposed because they don't want to strip a member of his powers. Being able to put a "hold" on a nomination without having to give a reason is a closely guarded prerogative of individual Senators.
But even Republicans are getting tired of Tuberville's quest. The fact is, military commanders in the field are very unhappy about the situation as many of their top command posts are being temporarily filled by junior officers.
Republican Senators made Tuberville aware of their displeasure last month.
For more than four hours, GOP Senators lined up to skewer Tuberville for gumming up the works. They called up each of the 400 nominees nominees for a vote and Tuberville stood up and objected to each of them. Several Senators, including Alaska's Dan Sullivan, a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, said that Tuberville’s blockade will be remembered as a “national security suicide mission.”
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There is also a political trap that Tuberville has set for Republicans who want him to end his crusade. The anti-abortion lobby was up in arms about the Pentagon's change in policy, making it easier for troops to get an abortion by paying travel expenses to states with a more liberal policy. They have been cheering Tuberville on.
But the Pentagon has said flatly that there will be no change in policy.
Still, there is no evidence that Tuberville’s tactics are going to change the Biden administration policy. Schumer has repeatedly said he’s prepared to put the resolution to confirm nominees en masse on the floor, which would squeeze Republicans between military leaders and anti-abortion activists.
For his part, Tuberville rejects that his position puts his colleagues in a bind.
“Democrats would love to pit it against military and abortion. It’s really not,” Tuberville said. “It’s about the rule of law. And I don’t think military people are gonna look and say ‘Oh, well they voted for abortion over this.’ That’s so far from the truth.”
Tuberville is a genuinely nice guy whose grasp of Senate rules has shocked his colleagues. And he appears to be making some progress with the Pentagon with negotiations. He may not be able to change the policy, but he might be able to limit it.
Would that make the delay of 400 nominations worth it? Tuberville thinks so, and that's all that really matters.
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