Where is McConnell on this, he the minority leader he should talk to this crackpot senator about ending this?!! The DOD is not going to give in to his demands either?!! When this over the senate needs to do away with this senate rule, where one senator can hold-up legislation?!! If the DOD were to give into Tuberville, it would embolden more senators to impose their will and agenda on the DOD too. Tuberville is hurting our military readiness too?!! It should be a national embarrassment, worthy of widespread outrage, that a former football coach and freshman senator from Alabama can hamstring military promotions for months without severe consequence. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is holding scores of military appointments hostage because he doesn’t want the Pentagon to pay the travel costs for service members seeking abortion care. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says military readiness is being compromised. If Tuberville doesn’t end his blockade, we won’t have a chairman of the joint chiefs after General Mark Milley’s term expires on Oct. 1. “Milley’s going to have to work overtime then,” Tuberville told CNN, making it clear he wouldn’t be backing down. Which begs the question: Where does GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stand on Tuberville’s hostage-taking? The longest serving Senate leader in history is known for his ability to control his side of the aisle. Why isn’t he putting an end to this nonsense? The two most likely reasons are that he’s finally losing his iron grip over his caucus, or he has made a calculated decision to avoid stepping into the culture war that Tuberville’s hold represents, as the junior senator seeks to end what his anti-abortion allies call “abortion tourism.” McConnell in his prime would have ended the Alabama senator’s siege in a millisecond. He told reporters in early May, four months ago, he didn’t support what Tuberville is doing. In the old days, before he suffered multiple falls and other health episodes signaled his vulnerability, those few words would have been treated as a command handed down from the mountaintop. “Maybe if he was physically strong, he would exert stronger control or try to,” says Ira Shapiro, a former Senate aide and author of the 2022 book, Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America, a critical look at McConnell’s iron-fisted rule as Senate leader. “It’s both a joke and a tragedy that someone with Tuberville’s lack of credentials can screw up so many nominations,” Shapiro told The Daily Beast. With the Senate back in session this week and facing multiple challenges to fund the government, Tuberville’s blockade continues, and there are few available tools other than brass-knuckled leadership to stop him. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could hold votes on the nearly 300 military leaders whose promotions Tuberville has stalled, but that would eat up valuable floor time and crowd out all other necessary business. https://news.yahoo.com/tommy-tubervi...ycsrp_catchall
I think America needs to stick to our policy of not negotiating with terrorists. And this senator is one.
Tommy Tuberville Says He’s Worried About People in the Military Reading Poems This man has no business being a U.S. senator period! Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville thinks that the real threat to military readiness is sailors reading poems, not his blockade on hundreds of military promotions. The Republican senator has blocked hundreds of promotions since March in protest over the Defense Department’s policy of reimbursing travel costs for service members who have to go out of state for an abortion. The department has warned that the blockade, which has left three branches of the military without official leaders, harms U.S. national security. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro slammed Tuberville on Tuesday for “aiding and abetting Communist and other autocratic regimes” with his misguided protest. “Secretary Del Toro of the Navy, he needs to get to building ships, he needs to get to recruiting, and he needs to get wokeness out of our Navy,” Tuberville hit back Wednesday evening, speaking on Fox News. “We’ve got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over the loudspeaker. It is absolutely insane the direction that we’re headed in our military, and we’re headed downhill, not uphill.” Tuberville has blocked an unprecedented 301 military promotions over the abortion policy, resulting in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps being led by “acting” military leaders instead of confirmed ones. The Pentagon says the policy will stay in place, and multiple defense officials, including department Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley, have warned that Tuberville’s blockade is a threat to military readiness and national security. https://www.yahoo.com/news/tommy-tuberville-says-real-military-134555163.html
Tuberville is doing the right thing. Our military has been perverted by the Kenyan Muslim and the current Usurper.
Tuberville? MORON who doesn't even know what the 3 branches of Government are... Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville flubs 3 branches of government https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/11/13/tommy-tuberville-branches-of-government-vpx.cnn
How does the rank of members of the military impact national security? I'm not siding with Tuberville. I'm happy whenever members of congress do anything other than legislate. I just don't see an impact on anyone other than those who were denied advancement.
McConnell is not the majority leader of the Senate, and Tuberville is doing his own thing with or without McConnell's blessing. That being said, what Tuberville is actually doing, by withholding all Pentagon promotions, is putting our national security at risk for personal and religious reasons, aka abortion. Tuberville cannot block a CR. He can attempt a filibuster if the Senate allows it and he has a second person. But McConnell does have some tools available to him though. He can literally request Tuberville to be removed from any and all committee assignments. He can call for a vote to censure him, and so forth he so chooses. Rumor is he is close to doing that if Tuberville states he will filibuster any CR resolution.
Here is one example from Just Security, "As retired NATO commander Admiral James Stavridis lamented, this is “immensely distracting to national security.” The Pentagon is already suffering from a historic recruiting and retention crisis due to myriad factors largely outside the federal government’s control. Tuberville’s actions amount to a self-inflicted wound that will do nothing to alleviate those challenges. Injecting a partisan social issue into senior military promotions is inconsistent with civil-military norms, runs contrary to historic practice, and harms military families. It also undermines due process and basic principles of fairness owed to service members and their families who have selflessly served the nation for decades." And this, "For officers serving in “positions of importance and responsibility” these promotions and Senate confirmation are inextricably linked to the position in which they are appointed. Under current law, officers serving in the rank of three and four stars hold that paygrade only while serving in these positions of importance and responsibility. Failure to be quickly promoted to another Senate confirmed position after being relieved could jeopardize the officers’ paygrade and career, adding considerable stress and anxiety. What’s more, non-Senate-confirmed officers can hold these positions, but only in an Acting capacity. Acting officers do have legal authority to make changes, but are unlikely to take bold initiatives. As the DOJ wrote in 1982, an Acting officer’s “stature as a practical matter is . . . somewhat inferior. He is frequently considered merely a caretaker without a mandate to take far-reaching measures.” In other words, without the promotions and only acting as the commander, these officers will not make any necessary and permenant changes because their status as acting is inferior to permanent, with the pay grade. In some cases, they may not have the or get approval of top level security clearance because it requires someone in that pay grade and rank, like a 4-star general commanding a major command here. Here is another link, it says, "Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh warns that this situation poses a significant threat to national security and readiness. Over 270 promotions are blocked by the senate, so acting officials have to take on the roles of multiple leaders, and the burden becomes unmanageable, potentially compromising military capabilities and relationships with allies worldwide." And yes, both our adversaries and allies notice if they are dealing or working with inferior officers than before. And that too poses a major problem. Not to mention, it is a major troop morale downer, especially for officers in the USMC. The highlight of any Marine officer going through Officer Training is to meet the commandant just before they graduate. It is not only tradition in the USMC but a highlight in their career no matter where they serve. Every Marine officer has met the commandant when they graduated officer training, for over 200 years, even my father has a picture of him and the Commandant at that time in the late 1950s when he was just a new, young LT going into the reserves. So, it is there, by the people who know.
