Pentagon takes dig at Sen. Tommy Tuberville for holding up over 250 military promotions — including next Marine commandant
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon appears to be trading in its aggression for passive-aggression, at least in domestic politics.
Sharp-eyed observers noticed Thursday that the Joint Chiefs of Staff hallway at DoD headquarters included an empty portrait frame reserved for the commandant of the Marine Corps.
Staff removed a photo of now-former Commandant Gen. David H. Berger after his official retirement on Monday.
On the commandant’s official Twitter page, the Marine Corps added a note that the position is “currently vacant” in the description, right next to the standard “likes, follows,
retweets, or links do not constitute endorsement.”
The actions by the Defense Department amount to a none-too-subtle protest of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s months-long block on rapid military confirmations — which Pentagon officials say is leaving the nation’s fighting force in a dangerous predicament.
As of Thursday, Tuberville is holding up roughly 260 nominations of military personnel up for promotion – all over a Defense Department policy that pays for travel when a service member or their dependent needs to go out of state to get any kind of reproductive care, such as abortion or in-vitro fertilization.
The policy, meant to ease burdens on those in the military community who are stationed in states where abortion was banned or restricted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, was issued by the Defense Department and is not the result of congressional action.
Tuberville (R-Ala.) has protested the policy since March, and the backlog he’s created would take roughly 27 days to clear if the Senate worked day and night on confirmations – and 84 days if the Senate spent eight hours a day doing so, according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI)
President Biden called Tuberville’s protest “ridiculous” on Thursday, adding that the delay presents a serious risk to national security.
“I’d be willing to talk if I thought there’s any possibility of him changing his ridiculous position. He’s jeopardizing US security with what he’s doing,” Biden said during a news conference in Helsinki, Finland. “I expect the Republican Party to stand up — stand up and do something about it. It’s in their power to do that.”
Many Republicans have indeed condemned Tuberville’s actions, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), but the former college football coach has held firm so far.
On Thursday, both Tuberville’s office and the Pentagon confirmed the senator had spoken with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about the hold, with the two men agreeing to speak next week.
The Pentagon’s public moves come after Berger held an unusual “relinquishment of command” ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington, ending his term as the corps’ top officer without formally handing the position over to a successor.
But while Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Eric Smith assumed Berger’s duties with the turnover, he cannot formally take over the role without the Senate confirming his nomination.
“We’ll get one thing out of the way very quickly. If you’re saying, ‘What am I supposed to call you?’” Smith said during the ceremony. “‘ACTMC’ [pronounced Act-Mac] – that is my title, and one that I’m proud of.”
Without the confirmation, Smith is left effectively leading the nation’s fierce, amphibious force without receiving benefits like personal security or living space at the commandant’s official home.
He also is blocked from carrying out official – and critical – duties, such as issuing a new strategic direction for the Corps.
“I can’t live in the house, can’t use a security detail. I cannot write a commandant’s planning guidance because I am not the commandant,” Smith told reporters on June 29. “That 39th commandant is to be determined by the Senate, whoever that may be.”
But it’s not just top brass that are affected; included in the 260 nominees are lower-ranking officers who are putting their lives on hold before they can assume promotions.
Those troops are blocked from promotion-related raises and moves, placing their families in limbo until a resolution is found, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s not just our general and flag officers that are being impacted in our force, it is their families as well,” she said. “I’ve heard cases of two students who dis-enrolled from their current school because they were supposed to move with their family for a change-of-station move, but now they can’t enroll in a new school because they don’t know when they’ll be able to relocate.”
“I’ve heard another story of a teacher who was a teacher at the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia,” she added, “and she recently ended her contract with her previous employer but has been unable to start a new job at another school because she doesn’t know when her spouse will be relocated.”
