Senate Republicans angrily challenged Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville on his blockade of almost 400 military officers on Wednesday evening.
A group of Senate Republicans took to the chamber floor last night to ask for unanimous consent to confirm dozens of the more than 350 nominations that have been held up by Tuberville.
One by one, they read service members’ bios and praised their acumen. And one by one, Tuberville objected.
Right now on the Senate floor: Sen. Lindsey Graham, Todd Young, Dan Sullivan, Joni Ernst, and Mitt Romney are trying to confirm by unanimous consent the military promotions that @TTuberville is blocking until the Pentagon stops funding the killing of unborn babies.
Coach is… pic.twitter.com/TLc0bUhjpB
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 1, 2023
From the AP:
Tuberville, R-Ala., stood and objected to each nominee — 61 times total, when the night was over — extending his holds on the military confirmations and promotions with no immediate resolution in sight.
Tuberville: I object
Sullivan: Well that was another downgrade of readiness for America right there
pic.twitter.com/XC74ybesOy— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) November 2, 2023
But the extraordinary confrontation between Republicans, boiling over almost nine months after Tuberville first announced the holds over a Pentagon abortion policy, escalated the standoff as Defense Department officials have repeatedly said the backlog of officials needing confirmation could endanger national security.
GOP Sen. Sullivan on Tuberville’s obstruction: By the way, Xi Jinping is watching this right now, he’s loving this. So is Putin. How dumb can we be, man? pic.twitter.com/I4A4BUvZH9
— tuan (@tuan09468158) November 2, 2023
“Why are we putting holds on war heroes?” asked Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, himself a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. “I don’t understand.”
Col. Robert S. Weiler is a warrior—the Marine Division Assistant Commander with a 28-year career. Silver Star, Purple Heart recipient for support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He's no woke guy. He's no desk jockey. Sen. Tuberville is going to block him tonight? pic.twitter.com/UIX1QfEbEs
— Sen. Dan Sullivan (@SenDanSullivan) November 1, 2023
Wrapping up for the night at almost 11 p.m., Sullivan said the senators will keep returning to the floor to call up nominations. If the standoff continues and officers leave the military, he said, Tuberville’s blockade will be remembered as a “national security suicide mission.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham told Tuberville, who mostly sat quiet and alone as they talked, that he should sue the military if he thinks the policy is illegal. “That’s how you handle these things,” Graham said.
After Tuberville objected to a vote on a two-star general nominated to be a deputy commander in the Air Force, Graham turned and faced him. “You just denied this lady a promotion,” Graham said angrily to Tuberville. “You did that.”
Even Lindsey Graham, who’s for a national abortion ban, is all out of fu@ks when it comes to Tommy Tuberville.
“You just denied this lady a promotion. You did that. All of us are ready to promote her because she deserves to be promoted.”
More of this please, because it’s going… pic.twitter.com/jWf1bMajTO
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) November 2, 2023
As the night wore on, Sullivan and Ernst — herself a former commander in the U.S. Army Reserve and Iowa Army National Guard — continued to bring up new nominations and appeared to become increasingly frustrated.
They noted that they were bringing up the nominations “one by one” as Tuberville had called for, and asked why he wouldn’t allow them to go forward. Tuberville did not answer.
Ernst: I do not respect men who do not honor their word. We have brought forward nearly 60 nominees. Every one of them have been denied an opportunity to move forward. pic.twitter.com/gLl1WEgEh3
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 2, 2023
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