Tommy Tuberville, Senator from Alabama, is a man of priorities. On his list, he ranks higher than preventing the Army from helping its members have abortions than renewing the US military leadership at one of the most threatening geopolitical moments in its recent history.
A representative of the toughest wing of the Republican Party, he has been blocked since February for more than 260 Pentagon appointments, and has declared that he does not intend to stop doing so until they withdraw a new rule that allows soldiers to take a few days leave to terminate a pregnancy and guarantees the reimbursement of travel expenses for those who need to travel because they are stationed in States where this right is prohibited or restricted.
Since they cannot choose where they live, the Department of Defense announced this change in its rules last February, in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling that in June 2022 overturned the precedent of Roe against Wade, which made abortion protection federal in 1973. It is now up to each of the 50 states to decide how to regulate the reproductive health of their citizens. At least 26, including Alabama, have already chosen to cut it off.
Tuberville, a former football coach elected to the role in 2020, has made it clear time and time again that he has no intention of budging, even if for the first time in a century the Marines lack a congressionally appointed commander or in the coming months it will be time to renew by resignation more than half of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Not even under the pressure of knowing that the tension with China and Russia does not exactly advise military power vacuums.
The most urgent case is that of Charles QC Brown Jr., aviation general chosen by President Joe Biden to fill the post of chief of staff, replacing Mark Milley, who will go to the reserve in October. “We will lose talent,” Brown told a Senate committee that Tuberville sits on Tuesday. He also predicted that the blockade will cause less experienced commanders to end up temporarily occupying key positions and that increasing family and financial burdens for the military is not a good strategy for the future.
The US Army is in a recruitment crisis. Chief of Staff General James McConville told Associated Press the Army is estimated to recruit more than 50,000 soldiers this year, which is up from 2022 but falls short of the stated target of 65,000 contracts. McConville is another to leave (in August), but, with Tuberville’s veto, there is no indication that his replacement, Randy George, will be sanctioned in time by Congress.
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Are white nationalists racist?
Several Republican senators have tried unsuccessfully to change Tuberville’s mind, who this week, in addition to his stubbornness, was placed in the eye of the hurricane for statements made Monday at the premiere of CNN’s new prime-time program, Hosted by rising journalist Kaytlan Collins. She is she asked him about comments made to a local radio station in her state to which the senator had told that considering “white nationalists” racist was a “matter of opinion”. On Monday she reaffirmed that idea: “My opinion about white nationalists, if you insist on calling them that, is that they are Americans,” she replied at the insistence of Collins.
The next day, he backtracked in the halls of the Capitol before reporters, who throughout the day collected critical statements from representatives of both parties. On that, at least, Tuberville relented, admitting that “white nationalists are racists.”
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