Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed Tuesday that the Senate ‘will not leave town’ until all remaining military promotions blocked by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville are finally confirmed.
For 10 months, the Alabama Republican and former football coach used his leverage to protest the Pentagon’s policy of using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion-related travel costs, holding up over 400 military nominees.
At the start of December, Tuberville finally lifted his blockade on all but 11 promotions after members of his own party joined Democrats in pressuring him to relent.
Schumer said Tuesday that he would force through the 11 remaining promotions for four-star generals before the Senate is cleared to go home for the Christmas holiday.
But Tuberville isn’t planning to make it easy on the top Democrat.
Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said he was maintaining a hold on 11 four-star generals, but would lift his blanket hold on military promotions, after a months-long blockade
He previously said he wants cloture and confirmation votes per nominee – which would amount to about 22 hours of votes before all promotions are confirmed. However, he could end up conceding and allowing for a quicker confirmation.
Tuberville spokesperson told DailyMail.com Tuesday that it is ‘only reasonable’ the Senate should consider each nominee on their own before ‘rubber stamping them.’
‘Four-star generals and admirals have some of the most important jobs in the world,’ said the spokesperson.
‘It’s only reasonable that the U.S. Senate should consider them individually and vote on them rather than simply rubber stamping them.’
However, Schumer’s threat to keep in the Senate is likely to land on deaf ears as only 61 senators out of 100 are actually still in D.C. The rest departed early for Christmas break as negotiations with the White House continue about inclusion of border security measures in a $110 billion Ukraine and Israel aid package – which won’t be voted on until January.
The senior-level military officials still under the last remaining hold include nominees to be vice chiefs of the Air Force, Navy, Army and Space Force.
In addition, the individuals are being considered to be promoted as the top commanders in the country – Cyber Command, Northern Command, Space Command, Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command.
When nominating Vice Adm. James W. Kilby to serve as the next Vice Chief of Naval Operations, President Joe Biden said he has done ‘outstanding work’ to ensure the Navy is ‘combat-ready and deployable worldwide.’
And Vice Adm. Stephen T. ‘Web’ Koehler, whose promotion to be the commander Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet is still on hold, has done critical work in the Indo-Pacific, which is important as China increases its aggression toward Taiwan.
Schumer said Monday that the Senate is ‘working to finish the job’ by the end of this week.
‘In years past, 4-star generals would’ve been swiftly appointed.’ Schumer wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
‘But Sen. Tuberville placed his illogical, hurtful, dangerous holds on these highly qualified and dedicated nominees,’ he continued.
Tuberville, a social conservative from Alabama, began blocking confirmations to senior Pentagon posts in March to protest a Pentagon policy enacted last year that provides paid leave and reimburses costs for service members who travel to get an abortion.
Vice Adm. James W. Kilby was promoted to serve as the next Vice Chief of Naval Operations
Vice Adm. Stephen T. ‘Webb’ Koehler’s promotion to be the commander Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet is still on hold
That policy came after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving some servicemembers stationed in bases where they did not have access to the procedure.
President Biden previously called Tuberville’s hold ‘ridiculous’ and brought it up in numerous speeches over the last several months.
The White House stressed the strain on the command structure and on military families amid the war in Ukraine and threats in the Pacific – compounded by Israel’s war on Hamas.
Tuberville has maintained that Democrats ‘do not like the unborn’ and they don’t ‘care about the military’ or they would have negotiated with him earlier.
‘Everybody said, well, these men and women need promotions. Well, these young unborn will never have a chance for a promotion because they wanna kill them before they’re born,’ he said in past remarks.
But even his own Republican colleagues have been critical of Tuberville’s ongoing holds.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told DailyMail.com last week that she has been ‘in touch’ with a number of the 11 service members awaiting their promotions.
‘We’re hoping that we go ahead and just vote on them this week,’ she said. And just put this to bed.’
‘We’d rather they just got released and we can move forward on unanimous consent. But if we need to, Schumer really needs to get them scheduled to be brought up on the floor so that we can vote for them,’ she added to DailyMail.com.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said Monday that the Senate is ‘working to finish the job’ by the end of this week
‘We’re hoping that we go ahead and just vote on them this week,’ Sen. Joni Ernst told DailyMail.com. And just put this to bed’
Tuberville fired back at his fellow Republicans who ‘attacked’ him on the the floor, calling it ‘unfortunate.’
‘There’s nobody, again, that supports the military more than me. But they are currently in the military and they were standing up for their colleagues, which is fine.’
‘But I can stand and we all can stand for life of the unborn and for our military. You can do both,’ he said in a speech on December 6.