GOP senator plans to keep blocking military promotions over abortion policy

A senator from Alabama is standing up to the Secretary of Defense in an attempt to stop his radical abortion agenda for the military, much to the ire of some Pentagon officials. 

There are a few issues in Congress that usually require little more than a rubber stamp, and one of those is approving the promotion of military officers. But Senator Tommy Tuberville has turned this usually routine matter into a way to push back against the Biden Department of Defense’s new pro-abortion policies. 

Since mid-February, Sen. Tuberville has been refusing to grant his approval to the promotions of senior military officers. His protest has held up the process for over 160 promotions among the highest ranks and highest paid military officers – admirals and generals. The reason, he says, is because of the Department of Defense’s new policy to pay for travel to obtain non-covered abortions for military members and their dependents. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin enacted the policy after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and he sought to use taxpayer dollars to enable members of the military who live in pro-life states to obtain abortions by paying their travel costs. 

Sen. Tuberville argues that this Biden administration policy goes against the decades-long provisions of the Hyde amendment, the legislative rider that prevents government money from the taxpayers for paying for abortions. 

“This is about not forcing the taxpayers of this country to fund abortion,” Tuberville said, the Washington Examiner reports. “You all got the American taxpayer on the hook to pay for travel and time off for elective abortions. And you did not make this with anybody in this room or Congress taking a vote.”

According to NBC News, Sen. Tuberville said at a Senate hearing that he will continue to hold up promotions until the policy is changed. 

“Over the past 40 years, I don’t recall one military person ever complaining that we weren’t performing enough abortions. I want our military to be the strongest and the deadliest it has ever been but also want the administration to follow the law,” he said. “As long as I have a voice in this body, Congress will write the laws, not the secretary of defense, not the Joint Chiefs.” 

Senator Todd Young of Indiana agreed. “I think he has an important point on behalf of his constituents which is that he deserves a vote,” Sen. Young said according to the New York Times. 

Senator Thune, acting in place of Republican leader Mitch McConnell who is recovering from an injury, also guardedly supported Tuberville. “Sen. Tuberville — the issue that he’s raising, I agree that the Department of Defense’s policy is atrocious, and it is a departure from decades-long understanding of federal public policy when it comes to that issue,” Thune said, according to NBC.

Senator Ted Budd reminded the Secretary of Defense that the proverbial ball is firmly in his court: “Mr. Secretary, you can fix this, 158 holds, in essence, that are there. You could fix this in nearly an instant… you can fix that nearly instantaneously with a change in policy.”

The promotion holdup does not affect anyone but the highest paid and highest ranking military leaders. Despite statements from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin characterizing the move as hurting military families, the vast majority of military families are not dependents of flag officers, and therefore remain unaffected. Additionally, those affected by the holdup will continue to be paid and receive benefits according to their current ranks. 

This isn’t the first time Sen. Tuberville has pushed back against the Biden administration’s coordinated efforts to use the federal government to overrule the will of people in states that have enacted pro-life protections. In February, Tuberville and other pro-life senators voiced their opposition to the Department of Veterans Affairs committing abortions in VA hospitals, and he announced he will introduced legislation to reverse the decision once Congress returns from recess in a few weeks. 

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