The Senate Armed Providers Committee has accepted President Joe Biden’s nominee to be U.S. Cyber Command and Nationwide Safety Company chief, sending it to the chamber flooring the place an deadlock over navy promotions drags on.
As a result of “dual-hat” management construction that governs the 2 organizations, the panel technically cleared Air Power Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh’s nomination final month in order that it could possibly be taken up by the Intelligence Committee, which shares jurisdiction. That committee accepted his nomination July 13.
Haugh sailed by each of his nomination hearings this month and since no lawmakers objected inside a 30-day window that ended this week, he was routinely despatched to the complete Senate.
Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a clear path for Haugh’s affirmation. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) maintains a maintain on the approval of senior navy nominees in a months-long bid to reverse the Pentagon’s abortion journey coverage.
The one-man blockade now impacts almost 300 officers, together with Military Gen. William Hartman, the chief of the elite Cyber Nationwide Mission Power, who Biden has nominated to switch Haugh as Cyber Command’s No. 2. He was additionally accepted by the Armed Providers Committee final month.
The Senate might depart as quickly as as we speak for its summer time recess and received’t return till after Labor Day, which means it will be no less than a number of extra weeks earlier than Haugh or Hartman get a vote.
Final night time, a bunch of a dozen Senate Democrats spoke on the chamber flooring for 5 hours to induce Tuberville to withdraw his blanket objection.
“The Senate has at all times handled navy nominations with respect and bipartisan assist as a part of a routine promotion course of. Now, they’ve been changed into political pawns by the Senator from Alabama,” Armed Providers Committee Chair Jack Reed (D-RI) mentioned, including “solely willful ignorance or cussed hubris could lead on one to proceed down this path.”
The speeches got here simply days after a bunch of Armed Providers members despatched a letter to Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-KY), asking him to “prevail” on Tuberville to finish the pileup.
“Because the chief of the Republican Convention, we depend on you to carry your colleagues accountable after they recklessly cross boundaries and upend Senatorial order,” the senators instructed McConnell, who has publicly disagreed with Tuberville’s ways however hasn’t intervened.
“It falls to you to behave now, for the security and safety of our nation. We urge you to train your management and prevail on Senator Tuberville to finish his reckless maintain,” they added.
Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-NY) beforehand supplied Tuberville a flooring vote on the DoD abortion coverage because the chamber works by its annual protection authorization invoice however the Alabama Republican rejected the thought.
Schumer hasn’t dominated out preserving the Senate in session in August to cope with the problem however has so far opted to not maintain particular person votes on nominees, as an alternative hoping political stress will pressure GOP management to get Tuberville in line and finish the logjam.
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