President Joe Biden ‘s nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, claimed Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) hold on military nominations could have a lasting impact on the U.S. military
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Brown made the comments while testifying in his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He claimed that Tuberville’s protest over the Department of Defense’s abortion-related policies, which has clogged up the confirmation process for general and flag officers, will affect military readiness.
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“We have our more junior officers who now will look up and say, ‘If that’s the challenge I’m going to have to deal with in the future … I’m going to balance between my family and serving in a senior position,’” Brown said, per Politico. “And we will lose talent because of those challenges.
Tuberville has stood firm in his protest, arguing that the fault for any impact on readiness lies with the Biden administration due to its refusal to change its abortion policy, which Tuberville argues was an illegal move to implement in the first place.
On the Senate floor, he disputed accusations that the holds were affecting military readiness.
“These jobs are being done as we speak; they are not empty. Four months into this situation, that is obvious that people are doing the job,” he said. “It is not affecting our readiness. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.”
In a call with reporters on Tuesday, Tuberville relayed that a general had assured him that the protest would not affect military readiness.
“You do what you need to do; we’ll get the job done,” the general allegedly told him.
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The Alabama Republican also argued that the hold was a good thing, saying Congress must now be vigorous in vetting the military picks.
“They can move any of these nominations, but they have to go one at a time,” Tuberville said. “[They] can’t be lazy about this. Some of them need to go through confirmation; these are very serious jobs.”
