Senior Republicans are working to secure a compromise with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) that would end his hold on the promotions of some 250 senior military officers in the Senate, a move that the Alabama senator has so far rejected.
Tuberville has been blocking the nominations since early March in protest of the Defense Department's new abortion policy. While most of his Republican colleagues support the senator's end goal, there is a quiet but growing frustration with the blockade.
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At the center of the dispute is the Pentagon's decision to pay for the travel expenses of service members who go out of state to obtain an abortion because of restrictions where they live.
Tuberville believes the policy, put into place in response to the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade last year, is a violation of a federal law that limits federal funding of abortions to cases of rape, incest, or threats to the life of the mother. He has vowed to hold up the nominations of general and flag officers until the Pentagon drops the policy.
Republicans have publicly backed Tuberville's decision, arguing it's his prerogative as a senator, but behind the scenes, there is growing concern the holds could eventually hurt military readiness.
Two senior Republicans on the Armed Services Committee have stepped in to help resolve the impasse, pitching Tuberville the idea of a vote on the Pentagon's abortion policy.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the No. 4 Republican in the Senate, introduced a bill in March that would reverse the policy and floated to Tuberville a committee vote on that measure as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. In exchange, Tuberville would drop his hold.
Ernst is joined by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, who told the Washington Examiner he is actively talking to Tuberville about potential off-ramps.
"There are discussions about bringing this issue to a close, and we hope we can successfully do so," Wicker said on Wednesday.
Tuberville at one time signaled a vote on the policy as part of the NDAA would be enough for him to drop the hold, but he has since taken a harder line, maintaining that the only way he would relent is if the Pentagon reverses its policy or if Democrats successfully codify it into law.
Tuberville was not receptive to Ernst's compromise, according to multiple Senate aides.
The bill stands no real chance of becoming law with Democrats in control of the Senate and White House, and Tuberville fundamentally rejects the idea of voting to bar the policy when in his view, it's already illegal.
"For the sake of the people in this country, we can't start legislating from the Pentagon, making laws," Tuberville told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
The backlog of Pentagon nominees, which could grow to as large as 650 by the end of the year, is typically approved without objection, usually in batches. Tuberville lacks the power to block the promotions entirely - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) can still put them up for a vote - but the hold basically forces him to do so one by one, eating up valuable floor time.
"They could do this one at a time; we could do this three or four a day if they were really that concerned about it," Tuberville said.
Schumer has refused to take that step, believing it would signal to other senators that they can use the holds as leverage. That has left the Senate at a standstill over the promotions, with no end in sight.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has not discussed the hold with Tuberville despite telling reporters last month that he does not support it. But the conversations with Tuberville suggest Republican leadership is growing weary of the stalemate.
Wicker said he hopes Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the chairman of Armed Services, will reach out to Tuberville to discuss the hold, believing the senator would welcome a nonconfrontational conversation.
"It would at least be helpful if Sen. Reed would approach Sen. Tuberville as peer to peer, colleague to colleague," he said.
Tuberville has previously said the onus is on Democrats to pass legislation to enact the Pentagon policy if they want to see it preserved. But even if Democrats were to put such a proposal up for a vote, which would surely fail given the 60 votes it needs in the Senate, Tuberville says he still would not drop his hold.
The Armed Services Committee plans to mark up Ernst's bill on June 21, the same day it marks up the NDAA, according to aides familiar with the plans. Wicker said he remains "hopeful" that a majority of the Democratic-controlled panel would support the amendment, and it remains a priority for Ernst.
"Sen. Ernst is laser-focused on getting her bill to block the Pentagon's ongoing war on the unborn across the finish line," an Ernst spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
But the committee's decision to vote on it separate from the NDAA, instead of as an amendment to it - essentially dooming it to fail - has Wicker fuming. He called the move, first reported on Wednesday night, "unprecedented" in a Thursday statement.
With the amendment route dead in the water, Wicker and Ernst risk growing anxiety over the hold.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has denounced Tuberville's tactics as "irresponsible" and "a clear risk to U.S. military readiness."
The senator dismisses that critique, pointing to two commanders who testified in April that the holds aren't having an effect on readiness in the short term.
"I've talked to generals and admirals, and if I felt like it was that much of a problem, we wouldn't be here. It's not affecting it," Tuberville said.
But those same commanders told Congress there could be long-term harm if generals decide to retire early over the bottleneck.
Gen. Eric Smith, President Joe Biden's nominee to become the Marine Corps's top officer, added to that chorus on Tuesday, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee that the hold "will have an effect."
"It certainly compromises our ability to be most ready," he said.
Most Republicans are supportive of Tuberville's holds, even as the blockade enters its fourth month. But two Senate aides told the Washington Examiner that there is growing concern within the GOP.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he doesn't fully agree with the route Tuberville is taking but understands what he's trying to do. He noted that he himself has placed holds on various nominations in the past.
"Whether I'm in agreement with his holds is one thing, but I am in agreement with what he's trying to accomplish," Grassley said.
Tuberville acknowledged the concerns but emphasized that they should not be overstated.
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"There are some conversations from people that are concerned that I'm holding up readiness, a few people on my side - but overall, people aren't really concerned about it," he said.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a former member of Republican leadership, said he has spoken with Tuberville as well about ways to move forward without pressuring him to end the impasse, since he, too, shares his concerns over the Pentagon policy.
Tags: Tommy Tuberville, Senate Republicans, Senate Republican Conference, Senate Democrats, Military, Defense, Defense Department
Original Author: Samantha-Jo Roth, David Sivak, Emily Jacobs
Original Location: Senior Republicans give Tuberville off-ramp to stalemate over Pentagon nominees