The Senate Rules Committee took a big step Tuesday to breaking the monthslong hold Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has placed on senior military promotions and nominations.
The committee voted 9-7 along party lines to advance a resolution sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that would allow Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., or a designee to make a motion on the Senate floor to approve the nominations or promotions in one block by unanimous consent, which is how the Senate conducted such business before Tuberville's hold.
The resolution, approved during a committee hearing, exempts nominees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff or those nominated for combatant commands.
"For those of us that want to keep this moving and to stop our chain of command from being held hostage, this is a victory because this is the first step of getting this done," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chair of the committee, after the vote. "Now we go to the floor, and one of the reasons it was important to do this is, this time, a number of our Republican colleagues are speaking out, not just behind closed doors but on the floor."
The resolution will need 60 votes to pass, meaning Democrats must get nine Republicans to turn against Tuberville and vote with them.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been a critic of Tuberville's hold but he said he will not vote for the resolution once it comes to the Senate floor.
"I am grateful to a number of our colleagues on both sides who proposed plausible solutions to this situation," McConnell, a member of the Rules Committee, said during the hearing. "Ultimately, the best path forward for everyone involved will be one that allows us to clear the nomination backlog and preserve our substantive opposition to the Biden administration's atrocious policy.
"Productive discussions on that front are ongoing, and I'm of the mind that we ought to allow them to continue. I appreciate the work put into the standing order proposal that the committee is considering but I'm going to oppose taking that route at this particular moment."
Tuberville began his hold in February over the Pentagon's policy of paying travel expenses for service members who travel out of state for abortion. He said the policy is unconstitutional because federal law prohibits taxpayer money to be used for abortions. His hold forces the Senate to vote on each nominee instead of one big group by unanimous consent, which takes time and prevents the Senate from conducting other business.
Newsmax reached out to Tuberville for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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