Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is moving to block all Department of Defense nominations that come before the Senate in response to the Pentagon’s move to ensure abortion access to servicewomen.
His roadblock will apply to all civilian, flag, and general officer nominations to come before the Senate. It will also apply to high-level promotions, Politico reported. The nominations are usually approved by batch without objection.
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Tuberville alone won’t be able to totally block the appointments, but his move will require Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to convene additional procedural votes — a time-consuming process that will result in hundreds of nominations being clogged up.
“The Secretary of Defense is following through with his radical plan to facilitate thousands of abortions a year with taxpayer dollars,” Tuberville said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
“So, I will follow through with my plan to hold all Department of Defense (DoD) civilian, flag, and general officer nominations that come before the U.S. Senate,” he added.
Tuberville had previously threatened the move in December, arguing that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was committing an illegal expansion of the DOD’s authority by imposing the new abortion policies.
“As I’ve stated, if Secretary Austin wants to change law, he should go through Congress. This is an illegal expansion of DoD authority and a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars — and I will hold him accountable. The American people want a military focused on national defense, not facilitating a progressive political agenda,” the senator said.
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Austin introduced a number of policies to ensure abortion access for servicewomen, including covering all travel expenses for those traveling to have an abortion and permitting up to 21 days of administrative absence for those receiving the procedure. Congressional Republicans have protested the move, arguing that it is weakening the military by enforcing a progressive agenda on combat personnel.
