The Senate on Thursday confirmed three more nominees for top military posts, a day after Republicans criticized Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama for his control of hundreds of Pentagon appointments.
The upper house voted 95-1 to confirm Adm. Lisa Franchetti as chief of naval operations, while Gen. David Allvin was confirmed by the same margin as Air Force chief of staff, and Christopher Mahoney was confirmed as deputy commander of the Corps. of Marines by 86 votes. -0.
With her confirmation, Franchetti becomes the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The confirmations came after a procession of Republican senators took to the Senate floor Wednesday night to rebuke Tuberville after he objected to a quick vote on 61 nominations as part of their ongoing protest against a Pentagon policy. which covers out-of-state travel for troops to receive reproductive procedures, such as abortions and in vitro fertilization.
Tommy Tuberville was in the hot seat Wednesday night when a handful of Senate Republicans turned on him.
“Xi Jinping loves this. Putin too,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said at one point. “How dumb can we be, man?”
“I’m as pro-life as they are!” Sullivan added. “The United States needs to have our best players on the field, the leaders with the greatest combat capacity.”
Tuberville, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which can approve multiple military nominations at once, has the power to block quick confirmations because the committee must be unanimous on such decisions.
Joni Ernst, a veteran, argued that the blockade was unfair to the brave men and women who are willing to give their lives for the country.AP
That forces the Senate to follow a regular order, a time-consuming process. In late September, the White House estimated that it would take 700 hours (almost a month of continuous work) to confirm the more than 300 pending nominees by regular order.
Around the same time, the upper house bypassed the Tuberville blockade by voting to confirm Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. Randy A. George was similarly confirmed as Army chief of staff, while Marine Corps Gen. Eric M. Smith was confirmed as the Corps’ new commander.
Some of the strongest words against Tuberville came from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), an Iraq War veteran, who claimed that Tuberville had supported the confirmation of one of the officers whose promotion he was delaying.
“Men and women have been denied promotions. We have done our best to honor a fellow senator’s request that these nominations be brought to the floor and voted on individually. I really respect men of their word. No “I respect men who do not honor their word” – Ernst in Tuberville pic.twitter.com/4W2dywdfLf
—Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) November 2, 2023
“We have done our best to honor a fellow senator’s request that these nominations be brought to the floor and voted on individually,” he said. “I really respect men of their word. “I don’t respect men who don’t keep their word.”
“Every member of this body could find a problem with any administration that they disagree with and what we are going to do is open Pandora’s box,” warned Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
“Who the hell wants to serve in the military when your promotion could be canceled for something you had nothing to do with?” she asked. “If you think it’s illegal, go to court!”
Lindsey Graham had strong words about the continued freezing of Tommy Tuberville’s military promotions.AP
The GOP’s frustrations with the Tuberville blockade have been simmering for months, but the recent war in Israel, along with a series of attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, as well as Smith’s recent hospitalization after suffering a stroke heart attack, were apparently the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“I want the American people to know that,” Sullivan said. “Currently, 376 promotions are being made to one, two, three and four star generals and admirals. It is estimated that by the end of this year, 89% of all general officer positions in the United States military will be affected by Senator Tuberville’s current suspensions.
“This is hugely detrimental to preparedness,” Sullivan added.
Tuberville refused to back down, at one point saying, “I have to respectfully disagree with my colleagues about the effect of my control over preparation. My control does not affect the preparation.”
The Alabama senator showed no signs of backing down.AP
“I hate to do this,” the former college football coach added, “but someone has to listen to us.”
“If I thought there was any problem with the preparation, we wouldn’t be doing this,” Tuberville told reporters Thursday, complaining that his colleagues had engaged in “a little smear” the night before.
“We went through something last night,” he added. “We’ll figure this out.”
Democrats are trying to get Republicans on board with a new strategy to bypass blanket control over military promotions. Shutterstock
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) decided to back a plan by Senate Democrats to change the rules to allow votes on all prominent nominees at once.
That concept, which has been introduced by Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), will need to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold to take effect.
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