> WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators angrily challenged Sen. Tommy Tuberville on his blockade of almost 400 military officers Wednesday evening, taking over the Senate floor for hours to call for individual confirmation votes after a monthslong stalemate.
> Tuberville, R-Ala., stood and objected over and over again, extending his holds on the military confirmations and promotions with no immediate resolution in sight. But the extraordinary confrontation between Republicans, boiling over nine months after Tuberville first announced the holds over a Pentagon abortion policy, escalated the standoff as Defense Department officials have repeatedly said the backlog of officials needing confirmation could endanger national security.
> “Why are we putting holds on war heroes?” asked Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, himself a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. “I don’t understand.”
> Sullivan said if the standoff continues and officers leave the military, Tuberville’s blockade will be remembered as a “national security suicide mission.”
> South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham told Tuberville, who mostly sat quiet and alone as they talked, that he should sue the military if he thinks the policy is illegal. “That’s how you handle these things,” Graham said.
> After Tuberville objected to a vote on a two-star general nominated to be a deputy commander in the Air Force, Graham turned and faced him. “You just denied this lady a promotion,” Graham said angrily to Tuberville. “You did that.”
> […]
> Showing obvious frustration and frequent flashes of anger, the Republican senators — Sullivan, Graham, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, Indiana Sen. Todd Young and others — read lengthy biographies and praised individual nominees as they called for vote after vote. They said they agree with Tuberville on the policy, but questioned — as Democrats have for months — why he would hold up the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
> Sullivan said Tuberville is “100 percent wrong” that his holds are not affecting military readiness. Ernst said the nominees are being used as “political pawns.” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney advised Tuberville to try to negotiate an end to the standoff. All of them warned that good people would leave military service if the blockade continues.
> As the night wore on, Sullivan and Ernst — herself a former commander in the U.S. Army Reserve and Iowa Army National Guard — continued to bring up new nominations and appeared to become increasingly frustrated. They noted that they were bringing up the nominations “one by one” as Tuberville had once called for, and asked why he wouldn’t allow them to go forward. Tuberville did not answer.
> “We all know it is wrong,” Sullivan said about three hours in, openly wondering if Tuberville might eventually change his mind. “It is wrong!”
> […]
> Sullivan had gathered enough signatures to force a vote on Franchetti and Allvin and spoke out in frustration about the issue at the weekly GOP lunch on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with Sullivan’s comments who requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting.
> […]
> The new efforts to get around Tuberville’s holds come after the Marine Corps said that Gen. Eric Smith, the commandant, was hospitalized on Sunday after “suffering a medical condition” at his official residence in Washington. Smith, who is currently listed in stable condition and is recovering, was confirmed to the top job last month, but had been holding down two high-level posts for several months because of Tuberville’s holds.
> Smith himself was blunt about the demands of serving as both assistant commandant and acting commandant for months in the wake of Gen. David Berger’s retirement after four years as the top Marine. In public remarks in early September, Smith described his grueling schedule as he juggled the strategic and oversight responsibilities of commandant and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the personnel and management duties of the No. 2 job. “It is not sustainable,” Smith said. “What doesn’t stop is the clock. The adversary doesn’t take a pause.”
> […]
> A host of military officers have spoken out about the damage of the delays for service members. While Tuberville’s holds are focused on all general and flag officers, they carry career impacts on the military’s younger rising officers. Until each general or admiral is confirmed, it blocks an opportunity for a more junior officer to rise.
> “Every day that Sen. Tuberville continues his blanket holds our military preparedness is degraded,” Schumer said.
Imagine denying promotions to U.S. military officers and undermining national security because you want to force women to give birth against their will.
Republicans hate America and our freedom.
Tuberville’e staffers call him ‘coach.’ This dude is such a fucking chump.
Tuberville has broad support from the maga base.
In all of this crap, Tubs has claimed that Schumer and the Dems can just call individual votes on each officer and “problem solved!” Now, even his own partymates attempted to do just that, and he still stood there and refused to back down, without even responding as to why. Clearly, he’s been full of shit the entire time, as if we didn’t know that.
Fuck the dumbass senator from my state, who doesn’t even live in my state.
He is doing this to leave these leader ship spots open for Trump to fill with seditionists in the way the judiciary was wide open for him
How about Republicans like Tuberville respect the concept of freedom and stop trying to take away women’s autonomy over their own bodies?
Freedom = Choice.
Hold a vote to remove him from his committees, get the Republicans on record.
The Republicans could privately threaten to impeach Tuberville if he doesn’t relent. Impeachment is a political process that doesn’t require specific crimes or evidence. If Tuberville is intransigent, they could impeach him. That Republicans are not doing so suggests their outrage is for show.
Imagine what he’s getting paid and by whom, that he’s so willing to jeopardize the US and piss off both parties in the process.
Hope he busts his ass again
Florida resident, Tommy Tuberville (R – AL)
The smart thing might be to have the vote when Tubs is more than a 2hr flight away, so he can’t make it in time to object.
Someone needs to lock him in a closet before the next vote!
Take a look at who donates to his campaign and it could answer some questions.
AP News *could* stop reporting on the narrative and get to the facts: Tuberville is holding out for the next 12 months to see Trump elected. This has nothing to do with abortion.
Edit: Someone here said Project 2025. Amen! It’s about time this becomes mainstream.
If this is truly a national security issue EJECT HIM FROM THE FUCKING SENATE. WHAT ARE WE DOING
All they have to do is remove him from that committee.
Elect a clown u get a circus
Traitor Tuberville. What is he hiding?
Republicans, the party of treason!
> As the night wore on, Sullivan and Ernst — herself a former commander in the U.S. Army Reserve and Iowa Army National Guard — continued to bring up new nominations and appeared to become increasingly frustrated. **They noted that they were bringing up the nominations “one by one” as Tuberville had once called for, and asked why he wouldn’t allow them to go forward. Tuberville did not answer.**
What a dick.
> The resolution by Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona would tweak the rules until the end of this session of Congress next year to allow a process for the Senate to pass multiple military nominations together. It would not apply to other nominations.
Oh, so she IS willing to change the rules to get things done? Just not the filibuster apparently.
Some Republicans simply won’t give an inch and they can hold up the entire government.
I’m happy to see this finally backfiring on this dumbshit
Tooberville: just another GOP POS.🤬
starring Lindsay Graham as the rallying flag for integrity
A freshman Alabama Senator with a straight face said, “the Biden administration injects politics in our military from the White House,” while at the same time injecting politics into his stupid & selfish promotion boycott! Now, America will not only think Alabama is full of inbred backwoods hicks, but also anti- American, military hating white Nationalist as well!
I know it’s dumb to ask this, but can anyone tell me how one man, being Tuberville, is the end all be all? How does he, alone, have that much power to make these decisions??
I wonder what it’s like being so fucking dumb.
Can’t McConnell just remove him from the committee?
There should exist no rule that allows a single individual to hold up things like this. It’s shameful that it is not being permanently addressed. This is basic checks and balances case.
Maybe the bigger question is why 1 senator has this much power to block 99 other sentators.
Headline should read:
Hayseed football hero helps America’s enemies weaken the military.
Why are most GOPers douchebags?
It’s just theater. They want him to continue doing it. Vote them out.
I wonder at what point someone is just going to point out that he’s a junior senator from a state that’s a lock for the Republicans who’s only real accomplishment is winning college football games. He’s a fucking stereotype.
This is just a Traitor Trump ordered extension of the sedition of Jan 6.
Why is this a thing?
It’s just stupid.
More Donald Trump, any time you see bizarre aberrations in the normal function of government remember: Donald wants this. He wants everyone to see our government doesn’t work. He will “fix” it.
Crazy this is even a thing. One person can hold up everything … why?!
if he’s got Russian money in his pockets this is aiding and abetting
43 comments
> WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators angrily challenged Sen. Tommy Tuberville on his blockade of almost 400 military officers Wednesday evening, taking over the Senate floor for hours to call for individual confirmation votes after a monthslong stalemate.
> Tuberville, R-Ala., stood and objected over and over again, extending his holds on the military confirmations and promotions with no immediate resolution in sight. But the extraordinary confrontation between Republicans, boiling over nine months after Tuberville first announced the holds over a Pentagon abortion policy, escalated the standoff as Defense Department officials have repeatedly said the backlog of officials needing confirmation could endanger national security.
> “Why are we putting holds on war heroes?” asked Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, himself a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. “I don’t understand.”
> Sullivan said if the standoff continues and officers leave the military, Tuberville’s blockade will be remembered as a “national security suicide mission.”
> South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham told Tuberville, who mostly sat quiet and alone as they talked, that he should sue the military if he thinks the policy is illegal. “That’s how you handle these things,” Graham said.
> After Tuberville objected to a vote on a two-star general nominated to be a deputy commander in the Air Force, Graham turned and faced him. “You just denied this lady a promotion,” Graham said angrily to Tuberville. “You did that.”
> […]
> Showing obvious frustration and frequent flashes of anger, the Republican senators — Sullivan, Graham, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, Indiana Sen. Todd Young and others — read lengthy biographies and praised individual nominees as they called for vote after vote. They said they agree with Tuberville on the policy, but questioned — as Democrats have for months — why he would hold up the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
> Sullivan said Tuberville is “100 percent wrong” that his holds are not affecting military readiness. Ernst said the nominees are being used as “political pawns.” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney advised Tuberville to try to negotiate an end to the standoff. All of them warned that good people would leave military service if the blockade continues.
> As the night wore on, Sullivan and Ernst — herself a former commander in the U.S. Army Reserve and Iowa Army National Guard — continued to bring up new nominations and appeared to become increasingly frustrated. They noted that they were bringing up the nominations “one by one” as Tuberville had once called for, and asked why he wouldn’t allow them to go forward. Tuberville did not answer.
> “We all know it is wrong,” Sullivan said about three hours in, openly wondering if Tuberville might eventually change his mind. “It is wrong!”
> […]
> Sullivan had gathered enough signatures to force a vote on Franchetti and Allvin and spoke out in frustration about the issue at the weekly GOP lunch on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with Sullivan’s comments who requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting.
> […]
> The new efforts to get around Tuberville’s holds come after the Marine Corps said that Gen. Eric Smith, the commandant, was hospitalized on Sunday after “suffering a medical condition” at his official residence in Washington. Smith, who is currently listed in stable condition and is recovering, was confirmed to the top job last month, but had been holding down two high-level posts for several months because of Tuberville’s holds.
> Smith himself was blunt about the demands of serving as both assistant commandant and acting commandant for months in the wake of Gen. David Berger’s retirement after four years as the top Marine. In public remarks in early September, Smith described his grueling schedule as he juggled the strategic and oversight responsibilities of commandant and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the personnel and management duties of the No. 2 job. “It is not sustainable,” Smith said. “What doesn’t stop is the clock. The adversary doesn’t take a pause.”
> […]
> A host of military officers have spoken out about the damage of the delays for service members. While Tuberville’s holds are focused on all general and flag officers, they carry career impacts on the military’s younger rising officers. Until each general or admiral is confirmed, it blocks an opportunity for a more junior officer to rise.
> “Every day that Sen. Tuberville continues his blanket holds our military preparedness is degraded,” Schumer said.
Imagine denying promotions to U.S. military officers and undermining national security because you want to force women to give birth against their will.
Republicans hate America and our freedom.
Tuberville’e staffers call him ‘coach.’ This dude is such a fucking chump.
Tuberville has broad support from the maga base.
In all of this crap, Tubs has claimed that Schumer and the Dems can just call individual votes on each officer and “problem solved!” Now, even his own partymates attempted to do just that, and he still stood there and refused to back down, without even responding as to why. Clearly, he’s been full of shit the entire time, as if we didn’t know that.
Fuck the dumbass senator from my state, who doesn’t even live in my state.
He is doing this to leave these leader ship spots open for Trump to fill with seditionists in the way the judiciary was wide open for him
How about Republicans like Tuberville respect the concept of freedom and stop trying to take away women’s autonomy over their own bodies?
Freedom = Choice.
Hold a vote to remove him from his committees, get the Republicans on record.
The Republicans could privately threaten to impeach Tuberville if he doesn’t relent. Impeachment is a political process that doesn’t require specific crimes or evidence. If Tuberville is intransigent, they could impeach him. That Republicans are not doing so suggests their outrage is for show.
Imagine what he’s getting paid and by whom, that he’s so willing to jeopardize the US and piss off both parties in the process.
Hope he busts his ass again
Florida resident, Tommy Tuberville (R – AL)
The smart thing might be to have the vote when Tubs is more than a 2hr flight away, so he can’t make it in time to object.
Someone needs to lock him in a closet before the next vote!
Take a look at who donates to his campaign and it could answer some questions.
AP News *could* stop reporting on the narrative and get to the facts: Tuberville is holding out for the next 12 months to see Trump elected. This has nothing to do with abortion.
Edit: Someone here said Project 2025. Amen! It’s about time this becomes mainstream.
If this is truly a national security issue EJECT HIM FROM THE FUCKING SENATE. WHAT ARE WE DOING
All they have to do is remove him from that committee.
Elect a clown u get a circus
Traitor Tuberville. What is he hiding?
Republicans, the party of treason!
> As the night wore on, Sullivan and Ernst — herself a former commander in the U.S. Army Reserve and Iowa Army National Guard — continued to bring up new nominations and appeared to become increasingly frustrated. **They noted that they were bringing up the nominations “one by one” as Tuberville had once called for, and asked why he wouldn’t allow them to go forward. Tuberville did not answer.**
What a dick.
> The resolution by Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona would tweak the rules until the end of this session of Congress next year to allow a process for the Senate to pass multiple military nominations together. It would not apply to other nominations.
Oh, so she IS willing to change the rules to get things done? Just not the filibuster apparently.
Some Republicans simply won’t give an inch and they can hold up the entire government.
I’m happy to see this finally backfiring on this dumbshit
Tooberville: just another GOP POS.🤬
starring Lindsay Graham as the rallying flag for integrity
A freshman Alabama Senator with a straight face said, “the Biden administration injects politics in our military from the White House,” while at the same time injecting politics into his stupid & selfish promotion boycott! Now, America will not only think Alabama is full of inbred backwoods hicks, but also anti- American, military hating white Nationalist as well!
I know it’s dumb to ask this, but can anyone tell me how one man, being Tuberville, is the end all be all? How does he, alone, have that much power to make these decisions??
I wonder what it’s like being so fucking dumb.
Can’t McConnell just remove him from the committee?
There should exist no rule that allows a single individual to hold up things like this. It’s shameful that it is not being permanently addressed. This is basic checks and balances case.
Maybe the bigger question is why 1 senator has this much power to block 99 other sentators.
Even Lindsey Graham is calling him out and, dare I say, [making some good points](https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1719848046752604622).
Fucking piece of shit.
Headline should read:
Hayseed football hero helps America’s enemies weaken the military.
Why are most GOPers douchebags?
It’s just theater. They want him to continue doing it. Vote them out.
I wonder at what point someone is just going to point out that he’s a junior senator from a state that’s a lock for the Republicans who’s only real accomplishment is winning college football games. He’s a fucking stereotype.
This is just a Traitor Trump ordered extension of the sedition of Jan 6.
Why is this a thing?
It’s just stupid.
More Donald Trump, any time you see bizarre aberrations in the normal function of government remember: Donald wants this. He wants everyone to see our government doesn’t work. He will “fix” it.
Crazy this is even a thing. One person can hold up everything … why?!
if he’s got Russian money in his pockets this is aiding and abetting