Sen. Tuberville Vows to Continue Military Holds

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said he will continue to block “specific” Department of Defense nominees due to the Pentagon’s woke policies.

Tuberville, a member of the Armed Services Committee, has held up more than 300 nominations and promotions of officials in the U.S. military as of Aug. 12, according to The Washington Post.

He began blocking confirmation after the Pentagon announced in February it would pay for the travel and accommodation for troops and their families to get abortions if they were based in a state that doesn’t allow the procedure.

Tuberville told Breitbart News that he plans to oppose specific upcoming military nominees.

“I warned the Pentagon that I would hold their most senior nominees if they broke the law. They did it, anyway, and forced my hand,” Tuberville said in his statement to Breitbart on Thursday. “Since then, [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Biden Administration have refused any serious negotiations, and so this situation has dragged on.

“This has given me more time to look more closely into the background of some of these nominees, and I have deep concerns about some of them. I will continue this process of oversight and I will announce my opposition to specific nominees in the weeks ahead.”

Tuberville’s blockade has now affected more than 300 general and flag officer nominees, including President Joe Biden’s picks for top officers in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Tuberville and others say the Pentagon’s abortion policy violates the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion procedures except if it is to save the life of the mother, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.

A spokesperson for Tuberville’s office told Newsweek on Friday that “the brave men and women of our armed services deserve better than the woke policies of the Biden administration.”

In the Senate, one senator can hold up nominations or legislation even if the other 99 want it to move forward. It likely would take months for Schumer, D-N.Y., to pursue a formal process on the chamber’s floor to get around Tuberville’s holds.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., last week said that he believed Republicans would get Tuberville to end the blockade of military promotions.

“I think there’s going to be a point where the Republicans will not enable this destructive behavior,” said Kaine, also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “They’ll eventually see in the mirror that this doesn’t look good, and they will figure out a way to make this right.”