Sen. Tim Kaine nails it on Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s “reckless” hold on military promotions, which is “harming our national security and impacting 300+ servicemembers & their families.” More from Sen. Kaine:
“There is nothing more important that any of us will do today than stand right here. These hundreds of military promotions that are being held up by Sen. Tuberville, enabled by the entire GOP minority in the Senate, 39 are folks who have been voted to positions in Virginia…many of the 39 are in Virginia now, awaiting the promotion so that they can move their families…so this is something we feel very very directly in our own state.
Let’s be clear about what’s going on. Sen. Tuberville, with the support of his Republican colleagues, are punishing these people because he’s unpersuasive…Sen. Tuberville has the right not to like a policy of the Pentagon, and there’s a venue for resolving that. He’s on the Armed Services Committee, he doesn’t like the current Pentagon policy, and so he offered an amendment to change it when we were debating the National Defense Authorization Act. He couldn’t convince his colleagues – he failed…When we aren’t persuasive enough to convince our colleagues, we don’t just decide to punish all these military officers who had nothing to do with the policy that we’re unhappy about…He didn’t even ask for a floor vote…Does this really matter to him as a matter of principle?…He knew he would lose and he would lose worse than in committee, so he’s taking out his inability to persuade his colleagues on these 100s of people who have volunteered the nation’s uniform and risk their life in doing so…
…Don’t tell people in the military, and don’t tell those of us who care about, that we should take care a few of the brass and punish everybody else. That is not a serious offer. It is directly contrary to the military ethic and it’s directly contrary to what we should do as senators. The GOP should prevail upon Sen. Tuberville – quit punishing those who are serving this country!”
Senator Tuberville’s hold on military promotions is reckless. It’s harming our national security and impacting 300+ servicemembers & their families. I’m joining @votevets and my colleagues to call on Senator Tuberville and Republicans to end this hold NOW. https://t.co/Z6b8ZBxAC1
— Senator Tim Kaine (@SenTimKaine) September 19, 2023
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