While the House is majoritarian, the Senate is another ballgame. One where the minority has influence.
Look no further than Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who has placed holds on around 300 U.S. military promotions due to the Pentagon policy of funding travel for female military personnel to get abortions—which violates Section 1093 of U.S. Code 10 that Department of Defense funding can’t be used for abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.
Confirming military promotions en blanc, which is what the Senate usually does with virtually no fanfare, requires unanimous consent. Mr. Tuberville’s holds mean that the Senate has to go through the usual voting process of cloture and a final roll call vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said that he wouldn’t do that and that the onus is on the Republicans to get Mr. Tuberville to release his holds. A simple majority is required on nomination votes.
Nonetheless, Mr. Tuberville’s holds exemplify that even though the GOP is in the minority in the Senate, they have power in the upper congressional chamber – a sentiment senators, including Mr. Tuberville himself, gave to The Epoch Times.
“Well, you got to have some kind of power, and that’s the only thing we have. People keep asking why are you doing this,” said Mr. Tuberville.
“Well, we hadn’t won anything in three years. I’m not trying to win here. I’m just trying to create a point that we don’t need dictation from White House in doing laws, we need to do that here,” he continued. “And American taxpayers, 60 percent of Democrats, Republicans and independents say that we don’t want any money going towards anything to do with abortion.”
“I think it’s a pretty strong reflection of the power of the Senate. The individual senators’ power has always come from their ability to obstruct,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “And it’s a tool that we all can use from time to time and do. He’s using it in a pretty significant way.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said that Mr. Tuberville’s tactic “tells you that [the] Senate needs new rules.
“When one guy can, one senator, who is not rational about this, can do this kind of damage to the military, there’s something wrong.”
“I think that the Senate Minority does have some powers, and this is one of them. I think that he’s played a very strong card,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)
“But typically, there’s ways to get around those,” he continued. “So very easily by now, Joe Biden could have had multiple numbers of those generals on the floor for a vote and been done with it.”
“Well, I think that it shows that you do have a fair amount of power even from the position of the minority. But the thing that I will say about Senator Tuberville’s holds, which I’ve been supportive of the policy, will continue to be so,” said Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
I just think it’s a prescription for trouble. I mean, you know, it is a very bad precedent,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “And obviously, you know, harmful to the responsible processing [of] nominations.”
“Look, Chuck Schumer could solve this problem by just bringing up 108 nominations to the vote,” he continued. “It doesn’t take that long to vote 108 times, especially if you back them all up one by one. So I don’t know why we don’t just do that. This whole thing seems like much ado about senators not wanting to work.”
“Well, every member of the Senate has the ability to object to a unanimous consent request,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “In this particular case, he has that authority just like any member would and he has decided to exercise it.”
The holds show, said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), that “the minority should have [a] certain sort of amount of power.
“But I don’t think anybody intended to be dictatorial. And certainly no one that I’ve talked to thinks it should be intended to stifle the normal promotion of the senior leaders of our military.”
Mr. Tuberville’s holds, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), demonstrate “that our current rules can be abused by almost anyone and that the Senate can be brought to a halt in essential work that it has to do.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) remarked that the Democrats in the upper chamber could overcome the minority party maneuver by Mr. Tuberville, whose holds she supports.
“The majority party is in a position to take this issue off the table,” she said.
“Chuck Schumer is using this issue to place a club on Tuberville’s head and to try to get Republicans to come down on him,” continued Ms. Lummis. “Senator Schumer could bring these appointments to the floor and get them passed any day he wants to.
“And he won’t do it because he wants to make a spectacle out of Senator Tuberville. And so I strongly disagree that the onus here is on Senator Tuberville. It should be on Senator Schumer.”
Ms. Lummis noted she placed holds on nominees to the Federal Reserve but they got confirmed anyway.
Not all senators agree that Mr. Tuberville’s holds speak to the power of the minority in the Senate.
“It’s not the minority,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “It’s one person right now.”
“I think it’s a stark reason as to why we are even engaged in these promotions in the military,” he added. “And it’s never been done before. One senator injecting politics into the military is having a very negative impact.”
“I don’t think it has anything to say about the minority. Any member of the Senate can do, whether you’re in the majority or the minority, can put a hold on somebody,” said Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.).
Despite Mr. Tuberville’s holds, the Senate confirmed Gen. C.Q. Brown on Sept. 20 as the Joint Chiefs Chairman, while the upper chamber confirmed Gen. Randy George and Gen. Eric Smith as chief of staff of the Army and Marine Corps commandant, respectively, on Sept. 21.
