DeSantis backs Tuberville’s military promotion blockade: ‘The right thing to do’
Jack Birle
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) says he backs Sen. Tommy Tuberville‘s (R-AL) blockade of military promotions in protest of the Department of Defense‘s abortion policy.
Tuberville has been holding up promotions in an effort to get the Pentagon to stop paying for the travel expenses of military members who seek to get an abortion. The monthslong blockade has caused headaches for the Defense Department, but it has yet to back down from the policy, which opponents claim violates the long-standing policy of the federal government not funding abortion with taxpayer dollars.
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When asked if he supports the blockade, DeSantis said he does and that he thinks “the Pentagon is violating the law.”
“They are basically being told by the Biden administration to do this. This is not consistent with long-standing U.S. law. And I think it plays into a larger problem that we have seen in the military. You have a lot of civilians forcing them to engage in political and culture issues that are detracting from mission. This is one of them,” DeSantis said on Fox News’s Special Report.
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“But the pronouns and the drag queens and all those other things, so we need to get the military back on focusing on mission first, and I think if we can do that, you can solve the recruiting crisis that you see,” he said.
When pressed on the 250 stalled military promotions, DeSantis said the blockade is because of what the Department of Defense is doing. He said the blockade was part of Congress’s oversight of the executive branch.
“At the end of the day, though, the Pentagon, largely because of civilians telling them to do this, they are the ones that pick this by violating the law. And so I think at some point, we talk about the executive branch or the administrative state. Part of the ways that you make sure they’re within their bounds — and, look, the military hasn’t been as bad as DOJ, FBI, EPA, all those others — but Congress is the one that does oversight,” DeSantis said.
“They have to ensure that they’re following the law. So I think that standing up for that’s the right thing to do,” he said.
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The interview aired as it was reported the Biden administration would not be moving U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama but would instead be keeping it in Colorado, against the Air Force’s recommendations at the end of the previous administration.
Tuberville slammed the decision on Monday, saying Biden “inserted politics” and promised that the fight over the location of Space Command was not over.