Last week could have marked a turning point in Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s one-man war on the Pentagon. A handful of the Alabama Republican’s colleagues turned on him on the Senate floor, forcing him to object to the promotions of 61 high-ranking military officers, one at a time, for more than four hours. Tuberville has blocked military nominations and promotions for eight months over his objection to a Pentagon policy that pays for service members stationed in abortion-banning states to travel to civilized states for their reproductive health care.
On the one hand, it was deeply satisfying to see some of these hard-line Republicans, like Iowa’s Joni Ernst, turn on one of their own. On the other hand, it was kind of like seeing the adage about wrestling with pigs acted out in real life. Instead of being shamed or chagrined, Tuberville seemed to enjoy the confrontation; he certainly didn’t back down. That’s left his GOP colleagues even angrier at him.
“It’s come to a head,” Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota told The Hill. Rounds didn’t participate in the confrontation last Wednesday night. “We’ve done our best to try to work through the issues, but with everything going on in the world, it’s time to address the concern.” West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that Wednesday’s confrontation “shows you how raw the feelings are … I think it’s frustrating for all of us that we can’t seem to find a way that Sen. Tuberville can be satisfied. At the same time, there doesn’t seem to be any movement there,” Capito said. “That’s the frustration.”
The whole GOP conference is convening Tuesday afternoon for a special meeting just to deal with the problem that is Tuberville. Republicans are, at least publicly, giving him the benefit of the doubt. “My expectation is he’ll be invited to this meeting and he’ll welcome the opportunity to seriously work together on a new strategy, and at the same time maintain our national security at this difficult time,” Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, a participant in last week’s confrontation, told Politico. “I think almost all of us agree with what Sen. Tuberville’s trying to accomplish — certainly I do — but I think it’s time to develop a new and smarter strategy.”
Right now, that strategy does not include working with Democrats on a proposed temporary rule change that would bypass Tuberville’s holds from now through 2024. One possibility that’s come up, according to Punchbowl News, is challenging the Pentagon’s policy via a lawsuit and taking the issue to the courts. That’s unlikely to sway Tuberville, simply because it would take too long. Another alternative Republicans are likely to offer is to support Tuberville putting a hold on President Joe Biden’s nomination of Derek Chollet to be the Pentagon’s next undersecretary of defense for policy since the abortion funding is supposedly the policy issue that Tuberville’s upset about.
Tuberville is unlikely to agree to either because he’d lose his leverage and ability to make a big stink. This means Senate Republicans are going to have to either keep putting up with it (and be tarnished by association), or work with Democrats to formulate and pass a solution. They are torn.
“I’m all for keeping the Senate’s existing rules in place. But Tommy’s ruining it for all of us,” one Republican senator involved told Punchbowl. Young added that changing the rule, even temporarily, would set a bad precedent, but at the same time Tuberville’s hold “also set[s] a bad precedent — placing a hold on hundreds of military promotions at a time of war and national-security tumult.”
They’re going to have to figure it out sooner rather than later because there are real deadlines in play. As Sen. Lindsey Graham argued on the floor last week, a lot of these officers could be forced into retirement if they don’t get their promotions on time. And if the Senate doesn’t deal with these promotions by the end of this calendar year, all of them expire and will need to be reupped in January in the new session of Congress. And come 2024, Tuberville could just reinstate his hold and start this deeply annoying dance all over again.
RELATED STORIES:
Republican senators roast Tuberville to his face over military promotions blockade
Sen. Football Guy is outraged that three-fifths of the Senate might end his military blockades
Chuck Schumer ready to circumvent Sen. Tuberville’s military promotions holds
