Schumer open to vote on Pentagon’s abortion policy
David Sivak
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is willing to hold a vote on the Pentagon abortion policy at the center of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) hold on military promotions.
Tuberville is blocking some 270 high-ranking nominees from receiving an expedited vote in protest of the department’s decision to pay for the travel expenses of servicewomen seeking an abortion. The senator refuses to drop the blockade until the Pentagon reverses its policy and has insisted that Democrats hold a vote to codify it if they want it preserved.
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“The bottom line is that if he wants to have an affirmative vote, we would not object to it,” Schumer said in a Wednesday press conference. “Tuberville said he wanted a vote, we’ll see what happens.”
There are two bills that could receive an amendment vote as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which Schumer expects to pass before the August recess. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is sponsoring legislation to repeal the Pentagon’s abortion policy, while Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) has introduced language that would codify it.
Tuberville has rejected a vote as part of the NDAA and wants it to be taken up as a stand-alone bill.
The vote alone would not be sufficient to break the impasse, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has warned is affecting military readiness. Tuberville says it must be accompanied by the Pentagon rescinding the policy.
That demand is a nonstarter for Austin, who insists the policy is legal despite Republican arguments that it violates a ban on federal money for abortions.
Austin has held two phone calls with Tuberville in recent days in an attempt to end the hold and brought in officials on Wednesday to brief the Senate Armed Services Committee on the matter.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Armed Services Committee, believes Ernst’s bill, should that be the legislation that comes to the floor, would fail, at which point he said Tuberville needs to let the issue go.
“At that point, when you’ve lost, you shouldn’t take your disappointment out on the hundreds of military officers serving their country who had nothing to do with the policy,” he told the Washington Examiner.
“I’ve offered amendments where I failed,” he added. “And then I just gotta get more persuasive, but I don’t try to stand in the way of patriotic people who are trying to serve.”
The Ernst bill failed in committee last month but was attached to the NDAA that ultimately passed the House.
Senate leaders have stepped up their efforts to convince Tuberville to concede, with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the Armed Services Committee chairman, sitting down for his first extended conversation with Tuberville last week.
Schumer nonetheless insisted that it’s incumbent upon Republicans to pressure Tuberville.
“It’s up to Republican leadership,” he said. “This is a problem that they have in their caucus, that they have with the country. They are risking our security, and it’s up to them to fix it.”
Schumer could bypass the hold by voting on the nominees one by one, a time-consuming process that the majority leader has previously argued would reward so-called hostage-taking on otherwise uncontroversial nominees.
But he left the door open to keeping the Senate in session in August to confirm some of the promotions.
“Look, our first job is to pass NDAA,” he said, “and then we’ll see what happens from there.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has publicly disagreed with Tuberville’s tactics, cautioned against Schumer circumventing the hold, saying it would undermine Senate tradition.
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“The problem with getting rid of the holds is you dramatically reduce the uniqueness of the Senate, which is that every single member can have an impact,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “And so, I’m reluctant to go down that path.”
“We have holds on both sides. What typically happens is you work it out,” he added. “And I think that’s where we ought to stay.”