President Joe Biden ridiculed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on Thursday for slowing the process to handle military promotions and nominations, but the Alabama senator said the Democratic president has shown no effort to negotiate through their differences.
Mr. Tuberville’s contention has been that the new DOD abortion policy conflicts with an existing U.S. law that bars the federal government from using taxpayer funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or pregnancies that threaten the life of the mother.
Mr. Tuberville’s block prevents the Senate from approving military nominees in large batches through unanimous consent, instead requiring them to go through slower regular order procedures. The Alabama Republican has vowed to prevent this speedy process of approving military nominations until the DOD either withdraws the abortion policy or Congress changes its laws on whether federal funds can support abortions.
The ongoing impasse over military nominations provoked Mr. Biden to lash out at Mr. Tuberville on Thursday, during a press conference in Helsinki, Finland. Mr. Biden said Mr. Tuberville is “jeopardizing U.S. security” with his protest tactics against the DOD abortion policy.
President ‘Doesn’t Even Want to Talk’: Tuberville
At the Helsinki press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Mr. Biden if he would be willing to talk with Mr. Tuberville in order to end the impasse over the DOD abortion policy and the military nominations process. The president replied, “I'd be willing to talk to him if I thought there’s any possibility he was changing this ridiculous position he has.”“He can call me all the names he wants. Does that sound like anybody that wants to get anything done?” Mr. Tuberville said.
Mr. Tuberville had raised opposition to the DOD’s abortion policy since July of last year, before the DOD had even formally submitted the policy decision covering leave and expenses for abortion-related travel and had been trying for months since to convince the DOD to either retract the policy or make the change through an act of Congress.
“We’ve got a White House and a Pentagon that is trying to legislate their own laws, and we’re not gonna allow them to do that,” Mr. Tuberville said. “Now they’re gonna change it with a memo? That’s not gonna happen, and I told him that.”
Mr. Tuberville said he believes the reason the Democrats haven’t tried to change the policy on federal funding for abortion-related expenses is because they know they'd fail if they tried it that way.
Mr. Tuberville also took a shot at the Biden administration’s negotiating skills, arguing the administration could have avoided the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine or ended it by now through negotiations.
Senator, Defense Secretary Briefly Talk
Despite Mr. Biden and Mr. Tuberville’s clash earlier on Thursday, the Alabama senator did speak with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin later in the day. Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the call had been brief, but that the two discussed the delays on processing military nominees.Military Nominations Could Still Proceed
Mr. Biden, members of his administration, and Democratic lawmakers have argued that Mr. Tuberville’s decision to block the unanimous consent passage of bulk military nominations jeopardizes national security.While Mr. Tuberville’s hold on military nominations blocks the Senate from approving them all at once, nominations can still proceed one by one.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has backed Mr. Tuberville, arguing that Senate Democrats could still confirm military nominees.