Senate Democrats and Republicans clash over Tuberville Pentagon abortion access protest
by Brady Knox, Breaking News Reporter |
March 29, 2023 08:15 PM
Republicans and Democrats clashed on the Senate floor over Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-AL) move to block Pentagon promotions.
He is protesting the abortion access policy of the Department of Defense, which he says turns the military into an “abortion travel agency.”
While Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Michael Bennet (D-CO) joined the chorus of Democrats opposing the bill, Tuberville was joined in support by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). Tuberville argued that his move was not unprecedented as Schumer and the Democrats had claimed, and he pointed to several previous examples of his tactic being used by other senators.
“Sen. Schumer and some of the other senators have claimed that my hold on these nominees is unprecedented. Well, it’s not. My hold is far from unprecedented," he said. "In fact, Sen. Bennet himself threatened to do the exact same thing just a few months ago. Why? Because the Air Force’s planned to move Space Command from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama. … Two years ago, we had a senator from Illinois put a hold on 1,000 nominees over the promotion of one single officer. So far, my hold has affected 184 nominations.”
He went on to attack Democrats over their perceived lack of concern over the U.S. military missing its recruiting quotas by a large margin.
“Democrats are in a panic about 184 promotions for generals and officers. Yet I have not heard a word from them about the 15,000 enlisted soldiers we’re missing right now from last year’s recruiting class. That’s an entire division," he continued. "There’s another 8,600 who were discharged over the President’s vaccine mandate. Kicked out. I don’t hear a word about them from the Democrats. So, the military is down 23,000 enlisted soldiers due to the actions of the Biden administration and his secretary of defense just this past year. Yet Democrats are worried about 184 generals getting their promotions? Only one of those things threatens our security. It is not the officer promotions.”
more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/senate-democrats-republicans-clash-tuberville-pentagon
