WASHINGTON — In a speech lauding President Harry Truman's decision to desegregate the U.S. military 75 years ago this week, President Joe Biden slammed Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama for holding up military promotions and critical appointments, including Biden's choice for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commandant of the U.S. Marines.
"I think it's outrageous," Biden said. "This nonsense must stop now."
As Congress prepares to head into its August 2023 break, Tuberviille shows no signs of ending his five-month-long hold on military promotions for several hundred senior officers, namely generals and admirals.
Tuberville is blocking the Senate from considering their nominations because he opposes a Defense Department policy to reimburse travel expenses for military personnel who have to leave their states to get abortions or other reproductive care.
The policy was put in place after the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned previous Supreme Court rulings affirming federal protections for abortion and returned the responsibility of passing abortion laws to the states.
A U.S. senator has the prerogative of placing what is called a hold on a measure, preventing the Senate from acting on that measure.
Biden also criticized Tuberville's GOP colleagues in the Senate.
"I urge Senate Republicans to do what they know is right."
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has characterized Tuberville’s hold as a threat to national defense. Senate Democrats have called him reckless, and more than 550 military families petitioned Tuberville and Senate leaders to end the stalemate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, has said he does not support a hold on military nominations.
But, so far, Tuberville isn’t budging.