Politics
Courage of Tommy Tuberville
Alabama senator wages one-man war on taxpayer- funded abortion travel expenses for troops.
W BY ALICE STEWART
alking through the halls of the Russell Senate Offi ce Build- ing, everyone from col-
leagues to college students shout “Hey Coach,” grab a handshake, and talk college football with U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. However, on the Senate fl oor, it’s a
diff erent story. The former Auburn University foot-
ball coach has thrown a fi ery fl ag on the play of the Biden administration’s Hail Mary pass to facilitate a taxpayer- funded policy that pays for the travel expenses of service members who take leave to obtain abortions. In February, Tuberville put a hold
on Department of Defense and civil- ian fl ag offi cer nominations, saying he would not let up until the Pentagon dropped its abortion policy, launching a fi erce battle between national secu- rity and the sanctity of life. “I wasn’t looking for this fi ght,” Tuberville tells Newsmax. “The Biden administration and the Pentagon are the ones who changed the policy. They didn’t give the American people the opportunity to vote on it.” In the wake of the Supreme Court’s
decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overruled Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a new policy last October to facilitate abortion care for troops. In a memo, Austin said service
members and their families had con- cerns they may not get equal access to healthcare, including abortions. He stated, “The practical eff ects of recent changes are that signifi cant
52 NEWSMAX | DECEMBER 2023
numbers of service members and their families may be forced to trav- el greater distances, take more time off from work, and pay more out-of- pocket expenses to receive reproduc- tive healthcare.” “I can’t simply sit idly by while President [Joe] Biden injects politics in our military from the White House and spends taxpayer dollars on abor- tion,” Tuberville says. “The only power that a senator in
the minority has is to put holds on nominations.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer has criticized Tuberville, saying the senator is playing politics with military nominees and “mili- tary appointments risk being further ensnared in partisan politics.” The nine-month battle over mili-
tary nominees came to a head at the beginning of November, as the patience of fellow GOP senators wore thin on Tuberville’s military blockade. In a late-night Senate hearing regarding these military promotions, a group of Senate Republicans took to the chamber fl oor to voice their frus- tration with Tuberville’s tactics. All touted their pro-life records,
yet spoke out against the holds. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, accused his Alabama colleague of conducting a “national security suicide mission.” “This is hugely disruptive to our readiness,” Sullivan said. Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst says
the Biden Defense Department was “waging a war on the unborn,” and slammed Tuberville’s tactics. She argued troops are being used as “polit- ical pawns.” Republican senators sought unani-
mous consent to confi rm dozens of nominations on backlog. One by one, senators advocated for service mem- bers and their qualifi cations. And one by one, Tuberville voiced his objec- tion.
Republicans brought 61 nomi-
nees up for consideration. Tuberville spiked every single one. The Senate was, however, able to
use a rules maneuver to confi rm three nominees: Lisa Franchetti to be chief of Naval Operations, Gen. David W. Allvin to be chief of staff of the Air Force, and Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney to be assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. Tuberville’s room just off the Sen-
ate fl oor is adorned with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, a painting of downtown Mobile, and a picture of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Here, the senator tells Newsmax he
has no plans to back down; he’s com- mitted to standing up for the people of Alabama and the people of this country. “Look, there’s no one more mili-
TOM WILLIAMS/CQ-ROLL CALL, INC. VIA GETTY IMAGES
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