Senate Democrats say Tuberville risking national security with his abortion protest

Senate Democrats said on Tuesday that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is risking national security by holding up over 160 military promotions over an abortion policy in the Department of Defense.

Last month, Tuberville blocked civilian and flag officer nominations in the Pentagon to protest against a new DOD policy which provided leave and reimbursement for service members or their spouses who need to travel to get an abortion.

LLOYD AUSTIN SLAMS TUBERVILLE’S ABORTION-RELATED HOLDS ON PENTAGON NOMINATIONS

During a press conference on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated, “The senator from Alabama clearly risks permanently injecting politics into confirmation of routine military promotions, something risking our national security.” He added, “This is severely hindering our military’s work in critical areas like the Pacific and the Middle East, our general to NATO — he’s one of the people he’s blocking at a time where we have a war with Putin in Ukraine.”

Tuberville, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has said that he will continue to block nominations until the Pentagon rescinds the controversial policy. However, his actions have slowed down the confirmation process, with the Senate now having to consider and vote on each nomination separately, instead of approving them in batches.

“This is about not forcing the taxpayers of this country to fund abortion. That’s been a bipartisan consensus for more than 40 years,” Tuberville said.

SENATORS QUESTION TUBERVILLE’S DRASTIC STEP TO PROTEST PENTAGON ABORTION POLICY

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, warned that the situation could worsen in the future, with 70 three- and four-star generals and admirals scheduled to rotate into new roles this year. “Now they are becoming political hostages, and that is a dangerous trend for our military and for our political process,” Reed said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a former colleague of Tuberville on the Armed Services Committee, called Tuberville’s hold on Pentagon nominees unprecedented and appealed to Republicans to intervene. “Regardless of what you think about reproductive rights, our military should be above the political fray, and one senator should not interfere with our military leadership decisions,” Blumenthal said.

However, Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, defended Tuberville’s actions, saying that he is within his rights as a senator to use such tactics to get the attention of the administration.

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Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) expressed her disagreement with Tuberville’s actions, stating, “It’s not one that I would use.”