The United States Air Force leads the U.S. military in officers affected by a six-month promotion hold that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) began in March.
There are currently 73 active-duty officers and 25 reserve officers from the Air Force caught in Tuberville’s hold, for a total of 98 senior officers. The block prevents the promotions of Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. David Allvin to the chief of staff of the Air Force, and Lt. Gen. James Slife’s elevation to vice chief of staff for the Air Force.
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Slife’s nomination was received by the Senate on Tuesday. He is currently the service’s deputy chief of staff for operations and was previously the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command.
The branch with the next highest amount of holds is the Army, which has 91 promotions on pause as Tuberville protests the Pentagon’s abortion policy, which covers leave and travel expenses for service members who seek abortions following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The Navy is third in terms of promotions affected, with 86 promotions hanging in the balance. The Marine Corps has 18, and the Space Force has eight promotions paused. The Coast Guard is not affected by the hold because it is not a part of the Department of Defense, even though it is considered a branch of the military.
Military leaders have bashed Tuberville for his tactics, pushing the senator to stand down as the holds endanger the readiness of the U.S. military and put national security at risk. But Tuberville has argued that military and Senate leaders can get around the hold by voting for each flag officer individually.
“I told Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin this almost a year ago,” Tuberville told Fox News on Wednesday. “If you do this [the abortion policy], I’m going to block your generals and admirals from promotion. They didn’t believe me. They put all this into effect … I can hold just so many of them. If they bring them one at a time, they could get them all they want. The problem is they don’t want bad votes.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has pressed Republicans to put pressure on Tuberville to change his tactics and allow the promotions, but is not putting the 319 nominations through individually.
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“You know, Republicans have always prided themselves on being the national security party, and yet, that’s right, they are letting Tuberville do this,” Schumer told MSNBC Wednesday morning. “If he had their whole caucus, if the rest of them said, ‘Stop, we demand you stop,’ he would have to stop. Now, McConnell and Thune have said what he’s doing is wrong, but that’s it.”
The biggest effect the hold has is replacing Gen. Mark Milley as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Milley’s four-year term will end on Sept. 30, and the spot could be vacant until the block is resolved, despite Brown’s nomination.
