Tuberville follows through with threat to block Pentagon appointments following abortion access push
Brady Knox
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Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) followed through with his threat to block Department of Defense nominations in response to a move by the Pentagon to push abortion access for servicewomen.
On Feb. 16, DOD instituted its new policy of paying for travel and time off for servicewomen who seek abortions. The policy was first announced in an Oct. 20 memo. Tuberville argued that aside from moral objections, the Pentagon’s move was an illegal expansion of the department’s authority, and he threatened to block all DOD officer nominees and promotions.
TUBERVILLE TO BLOCK PENTAGON APPOINTMENTS IN RESPONSE TO ABORTION ACCESS PUSH
While unable to completely block the acceptance of the nominations and promotions, Tuberville’s move would make the process far more time-consuming, clogging up hundreds of nominations. On Wednesday, the senator went through with his threat and blocked the newest patch of Pentagon nominations.
“I’m holding DOD nominations because the secretary of defense is trying to push through a massive expansion of taxpayer-subsidized abortions without going through this body, without going through Congress,” Tuberville said on the Senate floor.
“Three months ago,” he continued, “I informed Secretary Austin that if he tried to turn the DOD into an abortion travel agency, I would place a hold on all civilian, flag, and general officer nominees. Other than a couple of calls to my staff to ask whether I was serious, the DOD leadership has yet to call me directly and justify this action. In fact, they have not explained this decision to Congress despite multiple letters, more than a dozen, from my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee.”
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He went on to describe the policy as “immoral and arguably illegal.” He added that it did nothing to promote military readiness, as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had argued.
“If my colleague cared about military readiness, maybe we’d go after more of the ridiculous policies that have led to our lowest — our lowest — recruitment numbers in decades. But my hold does send a message that the secretary is not — and I repeat, not — above the law. And he cannot ignore lawmakers who are demanding his organization abide by law. I object and will continue to object to any nominees as long as this illegal new abortion policy is in place. I’m holding the military accountable. Others are holding our national security hostage by forcing their agenda where it doesn’t belong. Americans want a military focused on a national defense, and that’s what I’m fighting for. For these reasons, I object,” he concluded.