EXCLUSIVE — Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is accusing Democrats of caring more about abortion than national security, arguing that the party is only supporting the Pentagon’s abortion policy because it helps them electorally.
Tuberville took aim at Democrats’ primary criticism of his controversial monthslong hold on Pentagon confirmations in an interview with the Washington Examiner on Tuesday, dismissing the argument that the effort jeopardizes national security and military readiness.
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The Alabama senator argued that Democrats, who control the Senate and White House, would simply reverse the Pentagon’s abortion policy if national security was legitimately at stake. He believes Democrats won’t back down from supporting the policy, which pays for the travel costs and time off of service members who must travel out of state to receive an abortion due to restrictive laws, because abortion is more central to the party’s electoral success than military matters.
“They care more about abortion in this country, the Democrats do, than they do about national security,” Tuberville said. “They could just move this policy back, which would be very easy.”
Asked to defend the claim later Tuesday, Tuberville said, “That’s what they run on. Abortion is their No. 1 topic — it’s not foreign relations, it’s not the economy, it’s not the border, crime. They feel like they can win elections off abortion, so they just stick with it no matter what. They push it as much as they can.”
The Republican senator referenced his failed effort to repeal a similar policy for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which, unlike the Pentagon policy, was brought up for a vote in April. He pointed out that he dropped the VA fight once the vote to repeal the policy failed and would drop his hold on Pentagon nominations if Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would bring that rule up for a vote.
The majority leader has thus far refused to do so, arguing it is on Tuberville to back down from the effort, which has blocked the nominations of more than 300 general and flag officers since February.
As for why he thinks there’s a difference in how Senate Democrats have approached the VA and Pentagon disputes, Tuberville said he believes “they think it can help in recruiting in the military, and it can’t. To me, it is a huge national security problem if they stay with this because the longer we go, as they’ve said, it’s about readiness.”
Defense nominees who require Senate confirmation are typically approved in batches, usually without objection, to avoid a severely prolonged process. While Tuberville lacks the power to block the nominees permanently, he can significantly delay their confirmations. He has argued as the debate over his holds dragged on that Democrats could bring up the nominees individually, something party leaders have disputed.
“Taking these promotions one at a time would cost over 100 days on the Senate calendar,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said in September.
The first-term senator has vowed to continue his effort until the Pentagon reverses its policy, sparking bipartisan concern over the implications of leaving so many high-level positions unfilled. In addition to Democrats, Tuberville has also faced calls to lift his hold from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, all of whom have argued the effort imperils national security and military readiness.
Senate Republican leadership largely distanced themselves from Tuberville’s actions as the number of holds grew, though none have criticized the senator directly. Most have voiced their opposition to the Pentagon policy itself.
Several top Republicans have called on Schumer to bring key nominees up for a vote, as he did for Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Charles Q. Brown and two other high-level nominees last month.
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“Due to the extraordinary circumstances of Sen. Tuberville’s reckless decisions, Democrats will take action,” Schumer said at the time. “It’s not the path the vast majority of senators on either side of the aisle want to go down. But Sen. Tuberville is forcing us to confront his obstruction head-on.”
Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said just before Schumer announced those votes, “This is not a solution to his challenge. It really is going to drag this out at the expense of everything else that needs to be done in the Senate.”
