Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., responds to the secretary of the Navy accusing him of ‘aiding and abetting’ communists by holding up military confirmations on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’
Watch:
My holds are not affecting national security, no matter what national pundits are saying.@SecAFOfficial, @SECNAV, and @SecArmy would rather attack me in a newspaper than have an actual conversation.
Just another example of woke propaganda. pic.twitter.com/ty5ug481iW
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) September 6, 2023
Senator Tommy Tuberville calls Air Force Secretary’s criticism “propaganda” (Alabama Today, 7 Sep 23)
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) responded to harsh criticism of his holds on military readiness by the Army, Navy, and Air Force Secretaries. Tuberville commented during a telephone news conference on Wednesday with the Alabama news media.
“Democrats are continuing to try to shift blame for the Pentagon’s radical taxpayer-funded abortion policy by demanding that I lift my hold on military promotions, but I still stand firm in my belief that hardworking taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for travel expenses and additional time off for servicemembers and dependents choosing to get an elective abortion,” Tuberville said in a statement. “Nobody in this country voted for this policy. It is extreme. It came from the White House. It was neither authorized nor appropriated by Congress.”
Tuberville said that his holds are not hurting military readiness.
“I am not blocking votes,” Tuberville continued. “I am not stopping anybody from being confirmed. I am just stopping them from doing them in batches, hundreds at a time. It is one of the only ways I have of exercising oversight over the radical policies from the executive branch.”
While Tuberville is being widely criticized in Washington, Sen. Tuberville insists that the people of Alabama support him.
“Over the last six months, I have heard from thousands of Alabamians, including veterans, who are standing with me,” Tuberville stated. “They want our military to stay focused on its mission and stay out of politics. They know the real threat to our military is the woke policies of this administration. Under Joe Biden, we have seen the first shortfall in the history of the volunteer military. We’re down 15,000 soldiers. This year, it will be even worse. We are also down 8,000 service members because of Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. My holds are not, and I repeat, are not affecting readiness, but Joe Biden’s woke policies and his woke appointees are hurting readiness every day.”
Sen. Tuberville dismissed the recent op-ed in the Washington Post by the service secretaries as “propaganda.”
“This is all propaganda, first of all,” Tuberville said when asked by a reporter. “Let me say this. I am not holding up any nominations from being approved. They can bring them one at a time to the floor. They have chosen not to do that. I have also talked to some of the nominees that come through my office through their posture hearings. They have already changed jobs. They are already doing the job. It’s just they have got interim on their name.”
“There is no threat to readiness,” Tuberville continued. “The people that we really need to be worried about are the colonels, majors, and sergeants – privates. They are the ones getting ready to fight wars.”
Tuberville pushed back at the Pentagon.
“The people up here in the Pentagon – I don’t know what they do every day, but they are more of giving advice,” Tuberville said. “It is just a surprise to me. These are all number one Joe Biden’s civilian appointees: the Secretary of the Air Force, the Navy, the Army, and it disappoints me. Some of the language that they use because I am a United States Senator. I would never say that about them in the newspaper. This should not be played out in the newspaper. If you need to visit with me, call me or come see me. They know where I am. They have not talked with me.”
Tuberville accused Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the White House of carrying out a propaganda campaign against him.
“It is all propaganda that is being carried on by the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States,” Tuberville said. “Y’all got to start putting pressure on this Senator. They don’t know what pressure is, OK. I don’t feel any pressure at all, but I do have thousands and thousands of people – veterans and present military people that are supporting me. So again, I am not doing this for a blue ribbon.”
“I am doing this because they have changed a policy and a law that is against the law to do it the way they have done it – through a memo,” Tuberville explained. “Let’s vote on it. If we vote on it, I will accept the consequences either way. I will take the holds off, but we are not going to do hundreds at a time. That is not going to happen.”
One reporter asked Tuberville to respond to a quote from Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro accusing Tuberville’s policy on the holds as “aiding and abetting communists and other autocratic regimes around the world.”
“The Secretaries give advice to the President of the United States, and that is an absurd statement about a United States Senator – somebody that has been in this country a long time,” Tuberville responded. “I believe in this country. I believe in our military. There is nobody up here any stronger for national security than I am, but it does disappoint me again, as I said earlier, that none of these secretaries have called me other than Secretary of Defense Austin. I have not talked to any of them. They haven’t shown any concern at all. They have just been pressured by the White House and the Pentagon.” . . . .
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