The U.S. Senate today took steps to advance the nomination of Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, skirting a long-running blockade by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville that was supported by Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Sullivan said earlier this summer that Tuberville “has the right” to block President Joe Biden’s appointments to lead the U.S. Army, the Marine Corps and some 300 other senior generals and admirals from advancing over objections to the Pentagon’s abortion policy. That’s left several branches without permanent leadership, which Senate Democrats argue may endanger national security.
According to the Washington Post, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the nominations of Brown and two other key positions—Gen. Randy George to become chief of staff of the Army, and Gen. Eric Smith to become the next commandant of the Marine Corps—will also be advanced individually. Such nominations are typically moved forward in batches. An assessment by the Congressional Research Service said it would take the Senate more than 30 days of working 24 hours nonstop to confirm all the pending nominees.
In comments earlier this summer, Sullivan defended the holds and argued that the federal government should negotiate with Tuberville.
“Every senator has the right to place holds on nominees on an issue of policy importance,” Sullivan said during an appearance on “Meet the Press.” “Every single one of these kind of holds, 99% of them get resolved through compromise. And what needs to happen, the secretary of Defense, Senator Tuberville, Chuck Schumer need to sit down and have that pass.”
The blockade hasn’t sat well with Democrats or many Republicans, including Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski took to Twitter last week to outline her position after a report incorrectly suggested that she did, in fact, support the hold.
“I was mistakenly quoted as supporting Senator Tuberville’s holds on the nominations of hundreds of well-qualified military officers, including the Commandant of the Marine Corps. While that misattribution has been retracted by USA Today, I want to make sure my position is clear,” she said. “Holding military nominations hostage is not a winning tactic for anyone, especially in light of retention challenges and the very real threats we face in the Pacific and elsewhere. These holds are starting to have cascading impacts that are degrading our national security.”
And to drive her point home, she added: “Senator Tuberville should drop them, now, and find another way to express his concerns.”
Several other Republicans have been critical of Tuberville’s actions, calling it poorly thought out without any realistic goal in sight.
Today, a vast majority of Senators agreed with Murkowski and Democratic Senate leadership when they voted overwhelmingly to advance the individual nomination of Gen. Brown. The 89-8 vote tees up a final vote on Brown in the coming days.
Of the eight who voted against advancing the vote, Sullivan was not among them. After supporting Tuberville’s actions on the weekend talk shows, he voted in favor of Brown’s nomination.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.