Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) effort to stall military nominations led to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) being forced to take floor votes for military nominations.
The move is considered a major breakthrough in Tuberville's military holdout issue.
Tuberville forces Schumer's hand in military nominee votes: 'He blinked' https://t.co/ed5SowG9mk
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 22, 2023
"Tuberville followed a Senate rule enabling a minority member to bring a cloture vote with 16 signatures. However, once Schumer, D-N.Y., received the petition on Wednesday, he changed course and opted to sidestep Tuberville, proceeding directly to the floor votes," Fox News reported.
"And so he blinked — we forced his hand," Tuberville told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday. "Now the American people can see they can do it, and hopefully he will continue to do it because I'm not changing my mind on the group at one time."
One of us was bluffing. It wasn't me.
Democrats are taking the same action they could've taken months ago. As long as the Pentagon keeps the unlawful elective abortion policy in place, my holds will remain. https://t.co/f497iygBDd
— Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville) September 20, 2023
"One of us was bluffing. It wasn't me," Tuberville posted to X.
"Democrats are taking the same action they could've taken months ago. As long as the Pentagon keeps the unlawful elective abortion policy in place, my holds will remain," he added.
.@SenTuberville: "One of us was bluffing. It wasn't me.”https://t.co/AEawLArnck
— 1819 News (@1819News) September 21, 2023
"Tuberville said he expects two more promotions to be voted on individually Thursday, but his hold on mass confirmations will remain in place as long as the Pentagon's "illegal" abortion policy is in effect," 1819 News reported.
"We don't have any leadership in the Senate. We don't have any leadership in the White House or the Pentagon," Tuberville added, which he said is further displayed by the Biden administration's failure to address the "biggest problem we have right now" — protecting America's Southern border.
Over 300 military nominees have been on hold over Tuberville's blockade for the past six months.
The origin is connected with his view, held by many Americans, that the military should not use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion expenses for members of the Armed Forces.
The effort has been slow to build but is now seeing some progress despite the Pentagon's failure to change on the abortion issue under the leadership of the Biden administration.
