Throughout the confirmation hearing for the most senior US military officer, Democratic senators and the nominee alike spoke out against an ongoing hold on military nominations, saying it is hurting military families and could discourage officers from staying in uniform.
“We will lose talent because of those challenges,” Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, who has been nominated to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday. “The spouse network is alive and well, and the spouses will compare notes and you know, the member may want to serve but the spouses and the families get a huge vote.”
Brown was speaking at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is a routine step in the nomination process despite his confirmation being stalled alongside more than 200 other general and flag officers. The nominations hold is being led by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who has used the blockade as a way to protest new Pentagon policies on reproductive health care, which among other things included a travel allowance for service members who must go out of state to receive an abortion.
Tuberville, who is also a member of the Armed Services Committee, has vowed he would not back off the hold, despite outcries from military leaders and lawmakers alike. Tuberville told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” Monday night that when lawmakers are in the minority party in the Senate, “the only power we have is to put a hold on something.” Tuberville in that interview doubled down on his previous comments on White nationalism and said it was an “opinion” that White nationalists are racist.
In Tuesday’s hearing, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia condemned Tuberville’s approach as “disrespecting and punishing” uniformed officers who “had nothing to do with” the policy Tuberville disagrees with. Kaine…
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