AFA of PA ACTION ALERT
November 30, 2023
Issue
Pressure is Mounting
Details
According to The Hill, Senator Tommy Tuberville “has held up hundreds of military promotions for months but could be on the verge of being rolled by his own GOP colleagues in December, unless he can find a new compromise.”
Remember Senator Tuberville began this effort because of the Biden Department of Defense saying they will pay for service members to travel to get an abortion. This was a decision handed down in an October 20, 2022 memo signed by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, which says in part:
“Establish travel and transportation allowances for Service members and their dependents, as appropriate and consistent with applicable federal law and operational requirements, and as necessary amend any applicable travel regulations, to facilitate official travel to access noncovered reproductive health care that is unavailable within the local area of a Service member’s permanent duty station. “
The Hyde Amendment clearly makes it illegal to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions unless the abortion resulted from rape or incest or the life of the mother is in jeopardy.
Let’s look at that statement from The Hill. To begin with what Senator Tuberville has done is block the ‘mass’ confirmation of military promotions. The usual process was to bring forth an entire list of those to be promoted and vote on them in block. Senator Tuberville is saying ‘no’. He’s is not blocking these promotions, if brought forth one at a time. One of the senator’s loudest critics is Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who served as an Army helicopter pilot and lost both legs in 2004 in Iraq. She is calling Tuberville’s tactics “shameful and disgraceful; misogynistic and sadistic; self-interested yet self-defeating.” But let’s go back to 2020 when she blocked 1,123 military promotions because she wanted Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman protected for his role in bringing the whistleblower complaint against President Trump during his first impeachment in 2019. To her that was a top priority, but preventing taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions is not.
Action Steps
There is a Democratic-led standing resolution that would allow the chamber to push most of the nominations through as a single bloc. The ability of a senator to place such a hold is one of the few powers an individual senator has and has been in place for decades. There are concerns this would water down that power. Unfortunately, a number of Republicans are getting frustrated with Senator Tuberville and have indicated they may support such a resolution.
Let Senator Tuberville know you still stand with him as he works to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions.
His DC office number is 202-224-4124.
You can also call is district office in Montgomery, AL at 334-523-7424 or in Birmingham, AL at 205-760-7307. You can also contact him via Facebook
Loading ...