Tuberville says military âa little overloadedâ with 4-star generals: âIâm not changing my mindâ
Sen. Tommy Tuberville showed no signs of backing down from his holds on military promotions during an appearance on The Kimberly Guilfoyle Show, where he said he doesn’t care if anyone is promoted.
“I don’t care if we promote anybody to be honest. We got 44 four-star generals right now. We only had seven during WWII, so I think we’re a little overloaded to begin with,” Tuberville said.
The state’s senior senator has placed a freeze on Defense Department leadership promotions and new appointees for nearly six months.
The Alabama Republican is trying to stop “taxpayer funding of travel and paid time off over and above what other service members receive” for the purpose of facilitating elective abortions, Tuberville Communications Director Steven Stafford said in July.
Tuberville said in a column for AL.com in May that since “the Biden administration began illegally using tax dollars to facilitate elective abortion, I’ve used my rightful authority as a United States senator to slow down their civilian nominations and promotions from being confirmed.”
The Supreme Court ruled in June 2022 that the legal right to an abortion no longer exists.
But the Pentagon said in February it will pay travel expenses and leave for medical care for military members and their families. Available in that health coverage is support for decisions to terminate a pregnancy.
The U.S. Secretary of Defense spoke out against Tuberville’s holdouts last month saying “this is a national security issue. It’s a readiness issue. And, we shouldn’t kid ourselves. I think any member of the Senate Armed Services Committee knows that,” during an interview with CNN.
But during his appearance on Guilfoyle’s show, Tuberville said he did not believe his stance had any impact on national security.
“National security is not a problem here. Because you don’t change your position just because somebody’s not promoted. Somebody stays there until the promotion is done. So that’s not that’s not a problem here,” Tuberville said.
“I think we’ll even feel more support as time goes on because I’m not changing my mind.”