Former Trump defense secretary urges Schumer to circumvent Tuberville hold on Joint Chiefs
Mike Brest
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Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper warned both Democrats and Republicans not to play politics with the current hold on military promotions and nominations on senior defense positions.
The Marines are currently being led by an acting commandant, while the chief of staff of the Army, chief naval officer, and Air Force chief of staff will all leave their positions in the next three months. But they are all at risk of not getting confirmed because one senator, Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), has placed a hold on them in protest to one of the department’s policies regarding abortion.
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Tuberville has held up roughly 300 promotions or confirmations in the last six months or so, and has done so by denying Democrats the ability to pass batches of nominations at once by unanimous consent. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could bring the nominations to the Senate floor for a vote individually, though doing them that way is a much more arduous and time-consuming process.
While Esper believes the Alabama senator is within his rights as a member of the upper chamber to put a hold on military nominations, he also told the Washington Examiner on Monday that the Joint Staff nominees should be voted on individually, navigating past Tuberville’s hold, to ensure continuity.
“I think Sen. Schumer needs to not play politics with the issue either and bring up votes for at least the Joint Chiefs of Staff because, again, you’re going to have several of them coming up,” he explained. “They should get votes. There’s no reason why there can’t be votes in the Senate now on people who are pending, and so I would argue that while the bigger issue of the larger number of held-up nominees is worked through, we at least get confirmed these very important members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
If the military leaders of each of the branches leave their position before their successor can be confirmed, it forces someone to step up in an acting capacity, and that may not be who was nominated by President Joe Biden.
“You have somebody in the role that maybe doesn’t feel fully empowered or doesn’t want to presume confirmation, which is a taboo amongst nominees, and so they may not exercise the full power and authority of the office. So, those are things you have to wonder about, particularly as time goes on, and these actings have to make big decisions about the future of their service, about maybe the advice that they give.”
Schumer, for his part, does not seem prepared to move forward with Esper’s suggestion. When asked last week if the New York senator regretted not putting a nominee or two on the Senate floor for a vote, he said, “Not one bit.”
“This is the responsibility of the Republican Senate Caucus. Leader McConnell has condemned what Tuberville has done. Deputy Leader Thune has condemned it. It’s up to them,” Schumer said. “Now, I think in August, pressure is going to mount on Tuberville, and I think the Republicans are feeling that heat. As you know, I offered Tuberville, if he wanted to put his amendment on the floor, the Ernst amendment, I’d say, go ahead. So, he’s boxing himself into a corner. It’s the Republicans’ responsibility, theirs and theirs alone.”
Tuberville’s contention is with the policy the Department of Defense put in place in response to the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Now, the Pentagon will provide paid leave and reimburse the travel expenses accrued for a service member or dependent who had to travel out of state for an abortion or other reproductive healthcare, such as fertility treatments.
Under federal law, department funds and facilities may only perform abortions in which the life of the mother is at stake or is the result of an act of rape or incest. The Alabama senator has argued the policy of reimbursing certain expenses for obtaining an abortion at any point during the pregnancy violates the intent of the law.
Tuberville has “raised a credible issue that concerns him and his constituents … and that’s a serious issue he feels strong about. He has alleged that it’s breaking the law, and if it’s not breaking the law, he certainly believes that it’s a major policy shift,” Esper added. “So, I don’t discount the seriousness of the issue. I don’t believe in putting an en bloc hold on all these promotions is the right way to go about it.”
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“It casts [service members] as political pawns,” he continued. “In a fight in which, look, they’re implementing the policy of administration folks that work, so I disagree with that in that manner.”
Tuberville and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have spoken twice in recent weeks, while DOD officials also briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee about the policy last month, but both sides remain dug in on their respective stances. The Senate left for its August recess last week, while Gen. James McConville, Army chief of staff, must step down on Aug. 8, followed by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday on Aug. 21.