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On the surface, this new Associated Press report looks like an encouraging news item about a breakthrough announcement for the U.S. military.
President Joe Biden has chosen Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, a senior administration official said Friday. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to be a U.S. military service chief. ... Franchetti, the current vice chief of operations for the Navy, would become the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Unfortunately, the two words that stood out for me in the report were “if confirmed.”
The problem is not that senators are likely to have a problem with the admiral’s record or qualifications. On the contrary, as the AP’s report noted Franchetti has years of experience, “including a number of high-level policy and administrative jobs” that the Biden administration believes provide her with “deep knowledge in budgeting and running the department.”
Instead, the problem is that Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s anti-abortion tantrum is still ongoing, and until the Alabama Republican relents, Franchetti’s nomination will join hundreds of other military promotions that remain stuck thanks to the far-right senator’s procedural hold.
Indeed, as recently as Wednesday night, Senate Democrats tried again to advance these uncontroversial nominees. Once again, Tuberville refused to do the right thing.
The Alabaman is not without offramps. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this week raised the specter of a floor vote on Tuberville’s preferred policy, which would mean ending travel reimbursements for troops who need to travel for reproductive care. As the New York Democrat saw it, this would give the Republican a chance to make the case for his approach and then allow his colleagues to vote on whether to approve it.
Tuberville said that wouldn’t be good enough, adding that the only solution is for the Pentagon to give him what he wants. Given the painfully obvious fact that the coach-turned-politician isn’t the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces, the Department of Defense doesn’t seem to like his preferred resolution.
Soon after, Tuberville suggested that the Pentagon should simply scrap the benefits for the troops, as he demands, at which point the Senate could vote on whether to revive the policy. That’s a non-starter, too: Such a measure obviously couldn’t get 60 votes.
He then appeared on a conservative media outlet and said the administration needs to “find a way” to make him happy — or apparently he’ll continue to undermine the interests of his own country's military.
Or put another way, months into this blockade, Tuberville’s arguments aren’t exactly getting smarter.
In the meantime, GOP divisions over Tuberville’s radical tactics are becoming more obvious. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, not surprisingly, endorsed the Alabaman’s blockade this week, but The Washington Post’s Hugh Hewitt, a prominent conservative pundit, has seen enough.
Hewitt slammed Tuberville’s “inexcusable” decision “to imperil the men and women of the U.S. military,” adding, that the Republican must “stop playing with the lives of U.S. military personnel.”