Warren will attempt to end Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions
Samantha-Jo Roth
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will attempt to end Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) blockade of military promotions this week, which he began over a dispute with the Defense Department’s abortion policy.
Warren’s challenge to end Tuberville’s hold, reported by Punchbowl News, comes as the Alabama senator has held up almost 200 defense nominations since March. It is unclear what exactly the Massachusetts senator plans to do in an effort to get the Alabama Republican to change course. Warren is the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel, and earlier in the month, she wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to ask how Tuberville’s blockade could affect national security.
TUBERVILLE’S PENTAGON ABORTION PROTEST CRITICIZED FOR NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS
“The American people deserve to know the impacts of these holds,” Warren wrote. “I am committed to conducting vigorous oversight of military policy and decision-making, and I am concerned that these indiscriminate holds could impact military personnel around the world.”
Warren also requested a “full accounting of which positions will go unfilled and the risks” posed by leaving them vacant. Austin sparred with Tuberville at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing late last month about the hold on nominations, telling the senator that his effort had serious national security ramifications.
Tuberville took up the effort to protest the Pentagon’s policy of paying for the travel expenses of a service member or spouse who must go out of state for an abortion due to local laws. The rule was put into place in response to the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year.
The Pentagon promotions that require Senate confirmation are typically approved in batches, usually without objection, to avoid a severely prolonged process. While Tuberville lacks the power permanently to block the nominees, he has been able to delay their confirmations significantly. Tuberville’s staff said he’d continue his effort until the Pentagon reverses its policy, sparking some concern for defense officials about the possible national security implications.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could opt to clear all the nominations on the Senate floor, but that would be a long and labor-intensive process. This month, Tuberville’s office asked the Government Accountability Office whether the Pentagon’s abortion policy is subject to congressional review.