GOP Sen. Tommy Tubervilles hold on military nominations is raising the stakes of the Senates final week in session. The Alabama senator is objecting to the Pentagons policy of reimbursing military service members and their families for travel to obtain abortion care. On Tuesday Tuberville floated one potential way to move nominations more quickly through the Senate telling hed be open to limiting debate time on each individual nominee. That would still take considerable time and would likely still be seen by Democrats as politicizing the military. Senate leaders are hoping to wrap up consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act this week a bill leaders have long viewed as a natural inflection point to getTuberville to back off his holds. In the meantime public pressure on the Alabama Republican over his stand is growing. Activeduty military spouses hand delivered a petition to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday signed by hundreds of military family members who are deeply concerned and personally impacted by Senator Tubersville blocking confirmation of senior military leaders. Senate Republican Whip John Thune said the military overstepped their bounds. But you know at the same time we have got to have people in positions and particularly positions that are critical to our vital national security interests and so right now were at loggerheads on that and I dont know exactly at the moment what the exit plan is but there are folks who I know hes interacting with talking to our members. But I think there are lots of permutations of options that have been batted around and discussed and you know I think he wants to get an outcome and I agree with him. But there is no end in sight to the stalemate. It has gone on too long and having an impact on our national security. Senator Tubervilles professes to understand or know a lot about the military but he does not seem to understand what this is doing to our forces and it has a cascading effect on our readiness and recruitment. He says he is working to get politics out of the military using the tools he has as a United States Senator including his hold. Tuberviles office also noted that the holds only apply to generals and flag officers. But a spokesperson for Tubervelles said he is grateful for the service of all of our heroes in uniform and is grateful to them for their service. But he also said that the hold only applies to general and flag officer positions and not to the rank and file. The hold is not a permanent one and he is willing to work with Congress to find a way to get the nominations through. But so far the off ramps presented to Tuberille have not been enough to end the impasse and a briefing from Defense Department officials last week in the Senate Armed Services Committee didnt convince the Alabama senator that the policy was on firm legal ground nor did it convince him his holds were having a real impact on readiness. It is not clear if the hold will be lifted before the August recess when many military families typically look to move.
Tuberville under pressure over hold on military nominations. Pressure on Tuberville intens
