Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., speaks during a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the COVID-19 response, focusing on an update from federal officials, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 18, 2021. Susan Walsh/Pool via REUTERS
Although Republican Senators make noise in public about being unhappy with Senator Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) unprecedented 300 plus-military promotion holds that threaten U.S. national security at a time of global unrest and heightened security concerns, they aren’t willing to actually stop him by supporting a new proposal to speed up the confirmation process.
They’ve been offered what seemed like a pretty good way out of looking like they don’t support the military as our ally Israel has been attacked by Hamas. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and several Democrats came up with a resolution to temporarily allow multiple promotions to be voted on at the same time, which would substantially speed up the process which could otherwise eat up months of Senate floor time.
But this, also, is unacceptable to them, as the goalpost gets moved again and gaslit to boot:
“But interviews with more than a dozen GOP senators — even those who oppose Tuberville’s moves — revealed a reluctance to support anything that could be seen as setting a new precedent that weakens individual senators’ power,” PunchBowl News reported Friday.
“The Senate doesn’t just run on rules, it runs on precedents as well,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), the Rules Committee’s top Republican, told us. “This would allow a majority to decide, at any time, that a member’s privileges could be overruled by a one-time exemption. I think that’s dangerous.”
Of course, this is merely a resolution to allow this temporarily, and it’s being supported and championed by Sinema, who reportedly sees herself as having “saved” the Senate by saving the filibuster, a big giveaway to Republicans. But if anyone thinks Republicans operate in a give-and-get world, they haven’t been paying attention. Republican pretense at impotence as Tuberville nukes the U.S. military leaves little doubt that Republicans see harming the military and national security of the U.S. under a Democratic President as a win for their side.
As Jason Easley wrote on Wednesday when news of the preparation of the resolution first broke, if the resolution were to require a majority instead of 60 votes, “Democrats could pass it on their own and get needed military promotions moving again that would strengthen the country’s national security.”
Although Senate Minority Whip John Thune said they are considering the proposal among others, Tuberville warned would be political “suicide” for Republicans to support the military because “the number one thing” they stand for is being “pro-life,” Punchbowl added.
Meanwhile, the military’s senior leaders started speaking out in September after months of Tuberville’s dangerous misunderstanding of his place in a democracy, saying the damage being done to the the military will be felt for years:
“We’re on the fringe of losing a generation of champions,” Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, the head Air Combat Command, told reporters this week at a defense conference in Maryland. Kelly said he’s talking to his junior officers, many with families, and they are “people who will take a bullet for the nation, the Constitution.” But when it comes to dragging their family through this, “there’s a red line.”
All of this isn’t to stop abortions; it’s to stop the Pentagon from reimbursing women who have to travel to get an abortion or other reproductive care, because some Republican made healthcare illegal where the service member is stationed.
Tuberville is trying to impose his personal beliefs, which by the way clearly are not principled given that maternal mortality disproportionately affects those in his claimed state of Alabama, onto the entire military. If voters wanted that, they’d have elected Tuberville to be president.
But voters did not elect Tuberville as president.
In fact, voters made it very clear in 2022 that they do not support Republican attacks on basic freedom when it comes to abortion. When ideas are unpopular, one can either adjust to the fact that they have not been empowered by the people to make medical decisions for military members or one can choose to force yourself on the entire global community of the military.
Tuberville has chosen the latter, which comes as no surprise given that his “belief” about forcing women to submit to pregnancy also incentivizes rape. This, too, is little surprise given the rape culture that dominated football during his coaching years.
This little retired former college football coach from Alabama is trying to impose his unprincipled medical “beliefs” onto the entire military, military personnel, and their families. And Senate Republicans are letting him.
The resulting loss of military readiness now rests upon every Republican Senator’s record.
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