Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville issued a two-word response to a report that he might change his mind regarding his current blockade of Senate-confirmed military promotions.
“Good luck,” Tuberville stated on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter.
He was responding to a report from Newsmax quoting Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine that Republicans “will get their colleague … to end his blockade.”
“I think there’s going to be a point where the Republicans will not enable this destructive behavior,” Kaine was quoted as saying. “They’ll eventually see in the mirror that this doesn’t look good, and they will figure out a way to make this right.”
Tuberville has been blocking Senate-confirmed military promotions since February to protest a new Pentagon policy providing financial aid benefits to service members who have to travel to obtain an abortion because the state where they are based don’t allow it. About 300 promotions are frozen by Tuberville’s hold.
Gen. Mark Milley, the nation’s top military officer as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this week said Tuberville’s actions are having a negative impact and affecting readiness.
Appearing on the Kimberly Guilfoyle Show podcast Thursday, Tuberville said, “I don’t care if we promote anybody, to be honest. We got 44 four-star generals right now. We only had seven during World War II, so I think we’re a little overloaded to begin with.”
Sen. Jack Reed, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized Tuberville Friday night, saying his statements were a “smoking gun confession” that “demonstrates how Senate Republicans are doing nothing to help end his blockade.”
Tuberville later drew fire for a subsequent post announcing information session for the service academies:
Responses from critics dealt with the effects of the promotion blockade.
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