A Democratic House member on Wednesday afternoon will introduce a resolution formally demanding Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to lift his monthslong blockade on hundreds of military promotions amid the deadly Israel-Hamas war after his office said he won’t budge.
In a statement, Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., a vice-ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, decried Tuberville’s blockade as a threat to the lives of Israelis and U.S. troops amid the ongoing war.
“Our most critical ally is fighting an existential war for their nation’s survival. Yet MAGA extremists, led by Tommy Tuberville, are more concerned with waging a culture war, endangering both our Israeli allies and our own troops,” Ryan said.
“The people of Israel are depending on us. China, Iran, and Russia are watching for signs of weakness,” he added. “We must stand together as patriots and show the forces of evil around the world that there is no greater friend and no worse foe than the United States of America.”
While noting the Biden administration’s recent move to send ships from the Navy’s USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Ryan pointed out that the fleet lacks a Senate-confirmed commander as a result of the Tuberville-led blockade on military nominations.
Ryan, a combat veteran and former Army Intelligence Officer, also noted that the more than 300 confirmations that are currently in limbo include “several critical command positions” that are needed to carry out commitments by the U.S. to support Israeli allies as the war rages on.
“These are crucial positions needed to ensure that the state of Israel has the support it needs, stranded American citizens receive the help they require, and the United States is able to help deter the possibility of a catastrophic escalation of this war to other fronts by Hezbollah, Iran, or others,” he said. “This is a moment where the U.S. must stand strongly and unequivocally with the State of Israel, ensuring we have a lethal and ready force in an existential fight.”
Reached for comment, Tuberville’s office pointed to the House-passed defense bill which would restrict the Pentagon’s abortion policy. “It’s clear that the House majority stands with Coach,” Tuberville spokesperson Steve Stafford said.
Ryan’s resolution comes days after the office of Tuberville said he won’t lift his blockade on hundreds of military promotions in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, a close U.S. ally, last weekend.
“The Pentagon clearly thinks forcing taxpayers to facilitate abortion is more important than confirming their top nominees without a vote. They could end this situation TODAY by dropping their illegal and immoral policy and get everyone confirmed rapidly, but they refuse,” Stafford said in a statement to NBC News on Sunday. “If the Biden administration wants their nominees confirmed then Senate Democrats can do what Coach just did in September and file a cloture petition to force a vote.”
“Coach” refers to Tuberville’s previous work as a college football coach.
Tuberville’s monthslong blockade has held up at least 300 military nominees, including top officers who would command forces in the Middle East. He said his move is in protest of the Defense Department policy that provides time off and reimbursements for service members and their family members seeking abortions out of state.
Tuberville has faced backlash from Democrats, the White House and some Republicans, who have said that his use of a procedural tactic to slow down the confirmation of military officials poses a threat to the military’s preparedness. Although he can’t actually block the Senate from processing military promotions, his hold has significantly slowed down a process that typically moves forward without votes.
Tuberville and some Republicans have argued that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., could call each of the hundreds of nominations for individual votes — which could potentially involve hours of floor time for each nominee.
The Senate last month used that strategy to confirm its first military nominees in months — Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s top military officer; Gen. Randy George as Army chief of staff; and Gen. Eric Smith as commandant of the Marine Corps.
As of Wednesday morning, at least 1,200 Israelis — including more than 150 soldiers — have been killed and more than 2,700 injured, according to the Israel Defense Forces. At least 1,100 people in Gaza have been killed and 5,000 injured, according to the health ministries in Gaza and the West Bank.
President Joe Biden in a speech on Tuesday called Hamas’ attacks “vicious” and vowed support for Israel in the face of “pure, unadulterated evil.” He also confirmed that Americans are being held hostage by Hamas fighters, but did not specify how many. He is set to deliver remarks on the crisis later Wednesday.
22 Americans have been killed and 17 Americans remain unaccounted for, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said Wednesday.
As of Wednesday morning, Israel said its fighter jets have struck 450 targets in Gaza in 24 hours after its military claimed to regained control inside the country after it launched a “full siege” of Gaza that restricted food, gas and power from the densely populated area.
A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said that “fighting will intensify” and warned that scenes coming out of Gaza would be “difficult to understand and cope with.”
The Pentagon clearly thinks forcing taxpayers to facilitate abortion is more important than confirming their top nominees without a vote. They could end this situation TODAY by dropping their illegal and immoral policy and get everyone confirmed rapidly, but they refuse.
“Look what you’re making me do!” said the abuser.
The pentagon thinks providing healthcare to woman is more important than confirming their top nominees without a vote. They could end this this situation today by allowing woman to die and get everyone confirmed rapidly, but they refuse.
Even if it’s basic pragmatism born from the principle of “we don’t want to lose our soldiers to (forced) motherhood/fatherhood,” that’s still a valid reason to allow people the capability to choose to continue their career over starting a family.
The rationale that threy’ve provided (at least on NPR a few weeks ago) is that Republicans insist that abortion should be a states’ rights issue, not a federal issue. Most people are able to choose where they live and ideally are able to move to states that agree with them in regards to abortion rights. However, members of the military have no such freedom, so it’s not fair to them to deny them access to health services due to where they’ve been assigned to live.
The implied followup argument is that the military is already struggling to recruit new soldiers, and denying people access to essential healthcare is only going to make that task more difficult.
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I cringe every time someone calls that moron “Coach,” and that he apparently prefers that people do so. This isn’t a game, “Coach.” Try being a Senator for 5 fucking minutes.
He’s like that guy who peaked in high school when he scored 4 touchdowns in one game and never achieved anything else of significance in his entire life afterwards.
He’s literally a US senator and you know his name. He’s achieving more than most posters here ever will. Too bad it’s running interference for foreign interests
So why does he insist on being called “Coach” instead of “Senator?” Why is the “Coach” title more important to him than the title that comes with one of the highest offices in the United States?
Is he trying to show that he’s just a common man, a man of the people, the common clay of the new West - while he’s single-handedly impeding the readiness of the United States Armed Forces?
Traitor Tuber just doing traitor things under the veil of “saving babies”.
It’s total bullshit that one person can gridlock our government. It goes against checks and balances and needs to be fixed. I say with fucking guillotines and pitchforks and torches and remove these fucking traitorous bastards.
Like problem with Jan 6th is they were fighting for wrong side.
But seriously folks we are going walk right into a christofaciat dictatorship in next 2 years and only way I see fixing it is a revolution.
Especially if Supreme Court rules that Republicans control states can choose the winners making voting obsolete.
But seriously folks we are going walk right into a christofaciat dictatorship in next 2 years and only way I see fixing it is a revolution.
I was arguing with a friend of mine about this subject the other day. I’m Jewish and he’s Christian. He was trying to convince me that the biggest threat to me is radical Islamic terrorists. I pointed out that my chances of encountering a radical Islamic individual/group in the US is vanishingly small. Yet my chances of encountering a white supremacist, Nazi, or Christian Fascist is much higher.
He’s a Republican and took personal offense to this while claiming that these groups are small to non-existent. I pointed out when I’ve encountered/seen them and he still insisted that I was wrong and that I was letting my ideology blind me to the radical Islamic terrorist problem in the US. He didn’t see the irony of his ideology blinding him to the existence of white supremacy/Christian Fascism.
It’s easy for him to be blasé about this threat. He’s white and Christian. If white supremacist Christian fascists took control of the US government tomorrow, he wouldn’t be affected for quite some time. I, meanwhile, would be deemed an enemy of the state for not worshiping Jesus. At best, I’d be a second class citizen until I converted and worshiped Jesus.
The Senate operated under these rules for a long time, because their used to be civility and sensibility, especially in the Senate. The Senate used to be, “the adults in the room.” That unfortunately, is no longer the case. That started to crumble in the 90’s, during Clinton’s presidency.
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At what point do his actions become “Giving aid & comfort to the enemies of the United States”? Asking for 200 million friends.
Anyone else think Tuberville is being paid/blackmailed/all the above by foreign interests to fuck his own military and throw as many wrenches as he can into the works?
Because I sure as fuck do.
He wants these positions open in case Trump wins the presidency.
That way they can stuff insurrectionists into leadership positions in the military and make the next coup more successful.
This guy is a traitor, and so is the rest of the GOP who could stop this any time.
this is all part of the coup from Trump if you ask me… just more obstruction to have control
While I think this is plausible, I think it’s also possible he’s just a total fucking idiot nutjob. Both make tons of sense
Russian Intelligence traditionally called these people useful idiots
This is not a Tuberville blockade. This is a conservative blockade with Tuberville taking the credit/blame for it.
When not even one single conservative will vote to bypass the blockade, then all conservatives support the blockade.
I hope this is just the preliminary step towards changing the damn rule. Sounds like they need to show Coach that there is a supermajority that thinks he is being too obstinate, and that there is enough support to change the rule, so he may as well just give up before they change it.
“Formally demanding” just sounds like a strongly worded letter.
The rule needs to be changed. Because it is just a rule. Or just call the senate into session, lock the doors, and start the process of manual confirmation without break until there are few enough republicans in the room to change the rule or they finish. I understand it would only take something like 2000 hours. Let them sit in session, continuously, until it’s done. The Ds just don’t have the balls to do it.
McConnell simply doesn’t have the balls to do that.
Last time I checked, turtle man wasn’t majority leader
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Narrator: He didn’t
But he didn’t just ask. He formally demanded. /s
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Am entire article that doesn’t explain how this resolution will work and if it can succeed
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A Democratic House member on Wednesday afternoon will introduce a resolution formally demanding Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to lift his monthslong blockade on hundreds of military promotions amid the deadly Israel-Hamas war after his office said he won’t budge.
In a statement, Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., a vice-ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, decried Tuberville’s blockade as a threat to the lives of Israelis and U.S. troops amid the ongoing war.
While noting the Biden administration’s recent move to send ships from the Navy’s USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Ryan pointed out that the fleet lacks a Senate-confirmed commander as a result of the Tuberville-led blockade on military nominations.
Ryan, a combat veteran and former Army Intelligence Officer, also noted that the more than 300 confirmations that are currently in limbo include “several critical command positions” that are needed to carry out commitments by the U.S. to support Israeli allies as the war rages on.
Ryan’s resolution comes days after the office of Tuberville said he won’t lift his blockade on hundreds of military promotions in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, a close U.S. ally, last weekend.
Tuberville and some Republicans have argued that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., could call each of the hundreds of nominations for individual votes — which could potentially involve hours of floor time for each nominee.
The original article contains 897 words, the summary contains 235 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
