Tuberville’s last stand
Conn Carroll
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As a former Senate staffer, I am loath to tell the holder of a certificate of election when it is time to give up on a fight. They are the ones in the arena, the ones whose families are affected by being in the spotlight. They are the ones who won the votes.
And Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has fought longer, harder, and more honorably than I ever thought he would. But now, as Senate Democrats and a handful of turncoat Republicans are about to end the fight, Tuberville is reportedly considering waving the white flag.
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And that’s fine. He has fought hard. He has been under tremendous pressure for months now.
But let me quickly make the case that he should see this fight to the end. He should force those Republicans who are working with Democrats to legitimize President Joe Biden’s illegal use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortion-related travel in the military to show their hands.
This fight began in June 2022, just days after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Responding to immense political pressure to do something to counteract the ruling, the Biden administration announced that, for the first time in the history of the U.S. military, the federal government would not only grant leave to women service members seeking abortions but also pay their travel-related expenses for the procedure.
Before the policy went into effect, Tuberville pledged in December 2022 that he would block all military nominations if the Biden administration went through with a policy that was in direct contradiction with the law. Biden ignored Tuberville and implemented the policy. Tuberville then fulfilled his promise and withheld his consent for all military nominations.
Tuberville has since been in regular contact with the Pentagon and other senators seeking ways to resolve this. Since the new Biden abortion funding is essentially changing federal law, Tuberville’s ask has been clear: a simple majority up-or-down vote on Biden’s policy. This has been refused at every turn.
There was one last hope that Tuberville would be allowed a vote on an amendment to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act that would overturn Biden’s new policy. But Tuberville was denied a vote at the 50-vote threshold.
Now, the Senate Rules Committee has voted a resolution out of committee, along party lines, that would change Senate rules so that all military nominees could be voted on at once for the duration of the congressional term. The Senate would then revert to the old rules on military nominations at the start of the next term. This resolution would have to be approved by the full Senate on a 60-vote threshold, just like any other piece of legislation.
Some Republicans are worried that changing the rules in this manner would set a precedent that would dilute the power of senators to extract concessions from the executive branch through the nomination process. It is these Republicans who are putting the most pressure on Tuberville to give up the fight. These Republicans are misguided.
The Senate has already used temporary rule changes to bypass the 60-vote threshold. Forcing the Senate to pass another temporary rule change wouldn’t be new. In December 2021, the Senate added a provision to a bill preventing scheduled Medicare cuts that allowed for the temporary passage of debt limit legislation at 50 votes instead of 60.
After that one-time rule change, the regular Senate rules returned. The legislative filibuster is still intact. It would be no different if the Senate voted, again, to change the rules temporarily on military nominations.
What would be gained by forcing such a vote, however, is that Republican primary voters would be allowed to see which Republican senators have been working with Democrats to provide legal authority for Biden to use taxpayer dollars for abortion travel.
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Which nine Republicans will vote with Democrats for taxpayer-funded abortions?
We will only find out if Tuberville keeps fighting.