Sinema Moves to Break Tuberville’s Military Blockade

Gage Skidmore | Flickr.com

9 months into Senator Tommy Tuberville’s singlehanded blockade of crucial military nominations, his desperate Republican colleagues are privately confronting him to drop the issue before the Democratic majority passes a resolution which will briefly reduce the GOP’s minority powers.

For most of the year, hundreds of crucial military appointments have been held in limbo by Tuberville, a Republican Senator from Alabama, who is protesting a Defense Department policy which reimburses soldiers who travel out of state for abortion if stationed in a place where the procedure is outlawed.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues and the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates with exorbitant civilian casualties, the pressure on Tuberville to relent is mounting.

Last week, multiple prominent Republicans openly rebuked Tuberville over a span of hours on the floor of the Senate as they attempted to pass dozens of President Biden’s nominations individually.

Now, Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Jack Reed are proposing a change to Senate rules which would allow Democrats to confirm the President’s nominees over Tuberville’s objection.

The resolution will be presented to the Senate Rules Committee next week.

By then, Reed says, he believes it will receive bipartisan support if Republicans are unable to persuade Tuberville to back down, specifically from nine unnamed GOP Senators.