Senate Holds Slow Military Appointment Votes to Bypass Sen. Tuberville's Pro-Life Protest

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)

For the first time since Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) began protesting Biden's pro-abortion military policies by blocking unanimous consent votes for military appointments, the Senate has appointed leadership roles by individual votes. One vote took place on Sept. 20, and another two were held on Sept. 21.

When the Biden administration announced its legally questionable policy to pay the abortion travel expenses of military members and their dependents, Tuberville announced his intent to reject unanimous consent votes for military promotions and appointments until the policy was stopped. He followed through on that promise, blocking unanimous consent votes for over 300 appointments since February.

Federal law prohibits Department of Defense funds from being “used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.” The Biden administration's policy technically doesn't pay for abortion procedures, but it does pay for travel expenses and paid leave to obtain abortions.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) criticized Tuberville before initiating the first vote: “What Sen. Tuberville is doing will set the military and the Senate down a path to vote on every single military promotion,” Schumer said. “It will make every single military officer’s promotion subject to the political whims of the Senate and even of one senator. It will change the nature of our nonpolitical military. It will hamstring the Senate and further bog down this body and make it harder for us to legislate.”

Tuberville countered later on the Senate floor, arguing that the Senate “could have confirmed these nominees a long, long time ago” but that Democrats have instead “spent months complaining about having to vote.” He also commented that the backlog would be much smaller if Schumer had held individual votes for appointments without letting a backlog increase.

“My hold is still in place,” Tuberville said. “The hold will remain in place as long as the Pentagon’s illegal abortion policy remains in place. If the Pentagon lifts the policy, then I will lift my hold. It’s as easy as that.”

Click here to read more.