Republican Senator Blocks Military Promotions Over Abortion Policy – The New York Times
WASHINGTON A Republican senator has single-handedly held up promotions for the militarys senior commanders at least through mid-April as he attempts to pressure the Pentagon to change a new abortion policy created to ensure access to abortions for service members after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The weekslong push by Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, which is threatening to drag on into its third month after the senators left town on Thursday for a two-week holiday recess without resolving the matter, has prompted the first major clash of the new Congress over abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court decision last year overturning abortion rights.
The Republican-led House passed a measure in January that would lay out criminal penalties for abortion doctors in some cases, but Democrats in the Senate, who control that chamber, have no intention of allowing the bill to be considered. Mr. Tubervilles move, by contrast, has forced a debate on abortion access to the forefront of the Senate agenda.
Mr. Tuberville, a right-wing freshman, began blocking the promotions of generals and admirals across the services in mid-February, after the Pentagon announced it wouldgive U.S. service members up to 21 days of leave for abortions or fertility treatments and reimburse travel and transportation costs incurred while obtaining such treatments.
The Pentagon created the policy in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization last year, which overturned the precedent that enshrined abortion rights nationwide and gave rise to a national patchwork of laws. That left Americans including military personnel who are housed at bases throughout the country, sometimes with little control over where with unequal access to abortion.
Under the new policy, a service member living in a state where abortions are banned or severely restricted would have time off and reimbursement to travel to a place where the procedure is legal and accessible.
Mr. Tuberville, whose home state hosts six military installations and has laws banning abortion even in cases of rape or incest, has insisted that his objections have nothing to do with the Supreme Court decision to the access of abortion, but instead are about not forcing the taxpayers of this country to fund abortions.
The militarys health care plan covers abortions in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, but under the new policy, service members would be able to request travel reimbursement for any reproductive health procedure, including those not covered under the official plan.
Yall got the American taxpayer on the hook to pay for travel and time off for elective abortions, Mr. Tuberville said to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing this week, arguing that thePentagons policy ran afoul of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits spending federal dollars on abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the mother. Congress will write the laws not the secretary of defense, not the Joint Chiefs.
The protracted impasse has left Democrats and some Republicans wringing their hands over the potential national security repercussions of leaving the senior ranks of the military susceptible to depletion by attrition until the Pentagon either capitulates to Mr. Tubervilles demands, or he is convinced to relent.
It may not be his intent, but he is effectively accomplishing what our adversaries could only dream of: denying our military of its leadership and degrading our ability to fight and win the nations wars, Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and the Armed Services Committee chairman, said during a floor speech this week. He accused Mr. Tuberville of a profound assault on the professionalism of the men and women of the armed services.
Military promotions are not a political matter and they are not toys for political gains, Mr. Reed added.
He noted that Mr. Tubervilles blockade could affect not just the 150 to 200 pending nominations for generals and admirals, but potentially 650 more that are expected over the next eight months including a replacement for the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
If this policy continues or this practice continues, we are wiping out the leadership of the Department of Defense, Mr. Reed said.
Yet such arguments failed to sway Republicans, who argued that the burden was on Senate Democrats and the Pentagon to address Mr. Tubervilles concerns, even as some personally distanced themselves from his tactics.
What I dont understand is why it doesnt appear that anybody is reaching out to find a compromise with him, said Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who sits on the Armed Services panel. The military should probably sit down and visit with the senator and find a path forward.
Senator Todd Young of Indiana, who served in the Navy and the Marines, said Mr. Tuberville was rightly using his power in the Senate to raise an important issue.
We shouldnt abuse that prerogative that we have to insist on votes and use this gratuitously and frequently, but in this case I think he has an important point on behalf of his constituents which is that he deserves a vote, Mr. Young said. Democrats, he added, should give him a vote. Why cant we go on record about this matter?
The most obvious forum for such a discussion would be during debate on the annual defense authorization bill, which frequently dictates policy changes that touch on matters of national political debate.
If he wants to put up an amendment into the N.D.A.A. to disallow this rule, then that is a path, said Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, referring to the National Defense Authorization Act. I hope that at some point hell say, OK, I made my point.
But that debate is still months away, and for now, it appears Mr. Tuberville is digging in.
This has been a coordinated campaign to pressure me to lift these holds, Mr. Tuberville said on the floor this week. That doesnt bother me one bit, and it is not going to work.
On Thursday, the Senate passed a package approving the promotions of rank-and-file members of the armed services by unanimous consent. But Mr. Tubervilles hold means the Senate would be forced to go through the nominations he is blocking one by one, holding a series of votes on each in order to circumvent his objections. Democrats argued that such a path would be untenable, as it would probably consume months of floor time.
Mr. Tuberville also has defended his objections by arguing that Democrats have used a similar tactic in the past, such as when Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois blocked a similar cohort of nominations over concerns that then-Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the first impeachment of former president Donald J. Trump, would not be promoted. Her blockade lasted less than two weeks.
Yet Mr. Tubervilles stand over abortion policy comes at a time when Republicans have been jeering the military for policies that they deem to be too woke, decrying the Pentagons most senior leaders over efforts to tackle far-right extremism in the ranks and demanding that they account for reports of drag queen story hours at some installations. Democrats also argued that placating Mr. Tuberville would set a precedent encouraging other senators to use the perennial task of approving military promotions as a forum to grandstand for other political pet issues and called on Republican leaders to talk him down.
If one person plays this game, everyone is going to play this game, Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said Thursday. It is my view that sensible Republicans, maybe quietly, will go to Tuberville and say this is a real danger to American security and a loser for the Republican Party.
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Republican Senator Blocks Military Promotions Over Abortion Policy - The New York Times