Senator Tommy Tuberville announced today that he has ended his months-long holds on all military promotions. He indicated he will allow hundreds of promotions to be approved in one vote as opposed to making Democrats approve them one at a time.
Tuberville placed the holds on the nominations as a means of protesting Joe Biden’s abortion tourism policy that forces Americans to fund travel for members of the military who are ending the lives of their unborn babies in abortions.
Unfortunately, the holds did not yield the policy changes Tuberville hoped for so the Alabama senator conceded today and indicated he would only keep in place holds on top generals to continue protesting Biden’s pro-abortion scheme. Tuberville plans to continue his holds on 12 four-star general nominees, he told reporters, but will release the rest effective immediately.
“I have no control over anybody else putting a hold on somebody. But for myself, they are released as we speak,” Tuberville said.
“I’m not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer. We just released them, everybody,” Tuberville told reporters Tuesday. “I think about 440 of them, everybody but 10 or 11, four stars. We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach and an abortion policy.”
“We didn’t get the win that we wanted. We’ve still got the bad [abortion] policy. We tried to stand up for the taxpayers,” he added, saying he has no regrets about his battle to protect unborn children and pro-life Americans.
According to a Roll Call report, “Tuberville said he dropped the holds because Majority Leader Schumer “changed the rules” during the NDAA conference process, which has been viewed as an avenue for resolving the blockade. Says Schumer and other leaders excluded him from conference discussions.”
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Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, responded to the news saying, “We’re proud of the stand that Sen. Tuberville took on behalf of the preborn. Every day he stood firm was a message sent to Washington that the lives of America’s preborn are worth defending, even if Joe Biden and his Pentagon don’t think so.”
Schumer’s tantrums likely forced Tuberville’s hand today.
Annoyed by Tuberville’s nine-month hold on military promotions — and too lazy to vote on each nominee individually — Senate Democrats have decided to take their usual way out: blowing up chamber precedent. “The Rules Committee has acted on a resolution that would allow the Senate to quickly confirm the more than 350 military nominations being blocked by Senator Tuberville,” Schumer’s letter explained. “In the coming weeks, I will bring this resolution to the floor so we can swiftly confirm the hundreds of highly qualified and dedicated military leaders being held up by Senator Tuberville before the end of the year.”
While Joe Biden’s party claims this would just be a small exception to longstanding rules, Republicans insist that’s not the case. Before Congress recessed for Thanksgiving, Alabama’s other senator, Katie Britt, warned, “This so-called ‘temporary’ rule change would forever damage the institution of the Senate. The action taken … by my Democratic colleagues on the Senate Rules Committee is an ill-advised erosion of the institution of the Senate and the core Constitutional role the chamber should play in providing appropriate advice and consent. Fundamentally changing the rules of this institution,” she argued, “even temporarily, sets a dangerous precedent that undermines our nation’s tried-and-true system of checks and balances.”
Of course, the big wrench in Schumer’s plans is that he’ll need nine Republicans’ help to burn down the rules. That, Tuberville shook his head, would be sheer insanity. “I can’t imagine nine Republicans siding with the Democrats,” he told a group of home-state reporters on a phone call before the holiday. “Number one, [they’d have to vote] against pro-life and [for] executive overreach. And then, [why would they side] with Democrats for anything?” he wanted to know. “Because they don’t side with us for anything. I am doing what’s right for people of Alabama and the American people. Hopefully, my Republican colleagues stick with me on that,” Tuberville said.
And while the GOP’s social liberals — Mitt Romney (Utah), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Todd Young (Ind.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), and others — have publicly pounded the coach for his pro-life conviction, 15 members have vowed to stand with Tuberville: Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Britt, Ted Budd (N.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), James Lankford (Okla.), Mike Lee (Utah), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), and J.D. Vance (Ohio).
Some more Republicans may have moved over to siding with Schumer — making it so Tiberville had to concede rather than lose a rules vote.
There is still one hope to stop Biden’s abortion policy. House and Senate members are hashing out the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The House-passed bill, as some remember, would solve this entire crisis instantly. Thanks to the chamber’s Republicans, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) was able to attach an amendment returning the Pentagon to the status quo by rolling back the funding for military abortions that the president instituted last year without the approval of Congress — and in defiance of longstanding law.
“To get the point across that this has to end, [we have language] in our version of the NDAA,” Rep. Mark Alford, another conferee, told “Washington Watch” host Tony Perkins Monday afternoon. “It’ll be interesting to see what the Senate does with that. We’re anticipating they try to strip that out, but we are going to be fighting … to end the abortion travel, because … it’s basically paying for the facilitation of an abortion, which is wrong.”
Perkins, who has called the issue a “red-line for pro-lifers” agreed, pointing out that Tuberville isn’t the problem here. The president is. “This was a unilateral change by the Biden administration. And, as you said, Senator Tuberville is taking a heroic stand — protecting not just the unborn, but the rule of law. Two very, very important aspects of our society.”
Family Research Council’s Quena Gonzalez applauds Tuberville.
“By standing strong for nine months, Senator Tuberville has succeeded in drawing attention to the Biden Pentagon’s unlawful abortion policy. Courage begets courage, and a growing number of senators are vocally supporting his protest, like Senators Rubio, Vance, Marshall, and Lee, who even went to the Senate floor to give Tuberville a break when fellow Republicans took to the floor to try to force him to capitulate. But, as senators move into an election year, some pro-lifers in the GOP may be getting nervous.”
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