White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday took aim at blocks on military promotions by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., saying they were a "threat to our national security."
Tuberville first imposed blocks on President Joe Biden's nominees in protest of the Department of Defense's new policy to pay travel costs for service members seeking abortion or reproductive care.
Tuberville vowed to maintain the hold until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin changes course or Tuberville gets a vote on the issue.
"What the senator is doing by holding these nominations, it's a threat to our national security, period," Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing. "These are important nominations that we need, that the American people need to keep our country safe.
"And not only that, they risk our military readiness by depriving our armed forces of leadership and hurt our military families. That's what he's doing by holding these DOD nominees."
Several Republicans have spoken with Tuberville about his stance and what it would take for him to end his hold.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, earlier this week told Politico he agreed with Tuberville's stance and that he was not pressuring Tuberville to change his mind.
"Obviously, with the [National Defense Authorization Act] coming up, there's some opportunities there to have some more debate and votes on that and for Congress either to grant or to withhold that authority rather than to have the Department of Defense just assume it has the authority," Cornyn said.
Jean-Pierre called Tuberville's behavior "shameful."
"He needs to be asked the question is why is he putting our national security at risk," she said. "That is something for a senator to be able to answer to. We're trying to do the right thing by moving forward and protecting our military readiness and protecting our military families."