On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) clashed with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) after the Republican blocked all promotions for top military officials because of a Department of Defense abortion policy. Warren took the podium on the Senate floor and delivered a scathing speech attacking Tuberville’s pro-life move. Tuberville sits on the Armed Services Committee and has taken a stance against a Department of Defense which supports service members in traveling to get an abortion.
Warren shouted at her fellow senators, “Occasionally, a senator may object to an individual nomination, usually to indicate opposition to that appointment or to insist on answers to questions from a federal agency. But that is not what Senator from Alabama is doing.”
“Instead, he is blocking every single top military leader from advancing indefinitely,” she continued. “He’s snared all 184 top-level service members who are currently slated for advancement, and he stopped every single one of them dead in their tracks.”
“The senator is blocking 184 top military promotions because he disagrees with the Department of Defense policy to help service members and their families access needed health care, specifically to travel to access abortion care. Now, I disagree with the senator on that issue, but if he wants to press for votes to reverse DOD’s health care policies, he can do that.,” she added.
Tuberville responded by declaring that he would not be swayed, declaring, “It’s not about abortion. This is about a tyrannical executive branch walking all over the United States Senate and doing our jobs.”
“Now I warned Secretary [Lloyd] Austin that if he did this and changed this, I would put a hold on his highest-level nominees. Secretary Austin went through with the policy anyway in February of this year. So I am keeping my word. This was Secretary Austin’s choice, not mine,” he added.
It seems as though the Democrats may need to re-think their pro-abortion policies in order to appoint the military officers they wish to advance.
