July 13 (UPI) — During a news conference in Helsinki on Thursday, President Joe Biden blasted Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., for his continued hold on hundreds of U.S. military promotions because of the Pentagon’s abortion policy, calling it “bizarre” and “irresponsible.”
Since March, Tuberville has held up more than 250 military promotions to protest the Pentagon’s policy to reimburse expenses for service members who travel to obtain abortions. Tuberville claims the policy violates the Hyde Amendment, which disallows using federal funds for abortion.
The pause has prevented Biden and the Pentagon from filling some of its most high-profile positions, such as the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.
“The idea that we don’t have a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the idea that we have all these promotions that are in abeyance right now and we don’t know what’s going to happen, the idea that we’re injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what, in fact, is a domestic social debate on social issues, is bizarre,” Biden said at the news conference with Finland President Sauli Niinisto.
“I don’t ever recall that happening, ever. And it’s just totally irresponsible, in my view. I’m confident that the mainstream Republican Party … does not support what he’s doing, but they got to stand up and be counted. That’s how it ends.”
Tuberville told CNN on Monday he has no plans on ending the hold until the Pentagon or the White House makes a move.
“The only power we have is to put a hold on something,” Tuberville said. “I’m a senator. I can hold any confirmation I want until we get some kind of confirmation of why you’re doing this.”
During his confirmation hearing to become Joint Chiefs of State chairman, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown said the military “will lose talent” if the blockade continued.
“We have our more junior officers who now will lookup and say, ‘If that’s the challenge I’m going to have to deal with in the future … I’m going to balance between my family and serving in a senior position,'” Brown said. “And we will lose talent because of those challenges.”
