Ernst Does the Right Thing, Confronts Tuberville
While Grassley's "Bump on a Log" Leadership Gives Alabama Senator Cover
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) joined four other Senate Republicans Wednesday in confronting Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville (R) over his blockade - some would call it hostage holding - of hundreds of senior military leaders who are awaiting Senate confirmation votes on their well-earned and non-controversial nominations for promotions.
Senator Ernst did the right thing.
Tuberville’s reason for blocking the nominations is as absurd in theory as it is dangerous in practice. He’s holding the nominations hostage to try to force the Pentagon to stop paying transportation costs for military personnel who need to travel to obtain reproductive health care, particularly abortions.
Ernest is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a 23 year military veteran.
She’s also no friend of abortion rights.
She joined four other Republican Senators, Wednesday, in leading the effort on the Senate floor to challenge Tuberville: Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Todd Young (R-Indiana), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah). They took Tuberville to task in no uncertain terms, noting especially the danger he is creating, as well as his inability to tell the truth to his fellow senators about what he is willing to do to resolve this situation - which turns out, in reality, to be nothing.
Ernst and her colleagues spoke for four hours on the Senate floor trying to get Tuberville to drop his blockade. Take your fight elsewhere, they told him in essence, somewhere that it won’t endanger national security by dismantling the US military leadership structure.
Tuberville was unmoved.
When the Senate tried to bring up 61 individual nominations for confirmation that Tuberville has been blocking, and tried to pass them by unanimous consent, he objected to each and every one of them. Tuberville did so as blandly as if he were telling his table mates at supper that he didn’t care for another helping of peas.
Defense Department officials - and top military officers - have not hesitated to note that Tuberville’s obstructionism makes the US less safe by creating huge holes in the military command structure, with leadership positions left completely open or filled temporarily by other officers now forced to perform more than one top level job, spreading themselves too thin.
This becomes especially dangerous when there are two hot shooting wars underway in the world involving US allies, both wars just a hair’s breadth away from erupting and escalating, drawing in directly the United States.
To her credit, Ernst has worked for months with a handful of Republican Senators to try to convince Tuberville to drop his dangerous nonsense. They don’t appear to be making much progress.
Tuberville and his silent Senate Republican colleagues appear satisfied that if what they are doing creates trouble for President Biden, - even national secuity trouble on a global scale - then it’s a good thing.
Tuberville and his silent enablers apparently have no problem putting partisanship over patriotism, politics over country, politicizing and damaging the military over supporting and strengthening it. Tuberville doesn’t see a problem, and his Senate enablers - if they do see one - they simply won’t do their duty and say anything or work to get him to stop endangering the country.
Which brings us to Ernst’s Iowa colleague in the Senate, Chuck Grassley (R-IA). He’s one of Tuberville’s “silent enablers.
As Iowa’s senior senator and the longest serving Republican in the Senate, you’d think he would know better.you’d think he would feel compelled to speak up and tell Tuberville to drop his holds.
But apparently Grassley does not know better.
All we’ve gotten from Chuck Grassley on the subject is a soup-sandwich, a namby-pamby, mish-mash of words that - if anything - gives Tuberville cover.
Here is Grassley’s view, as explained in a recent statement: “We should make sure that we give each senator as much power as we can. It was meant to be that way. It’s always been that way. I just want to make sure it isn’t abused to the point where we maybe change the rules, that’s a slippery slope.”
Spoken like a true elderly Washington insider, more concerned with hanging onto power than actually standing up for, and actually doing, the right thing - even when it comes to national security.
There is nothing in Grassley’s comments that are likely to get Tuberville, who does not think he is abusing the system, to reverse course and let his nomination hostages go free. There’s nothing there that would even suggest to Tuberville that what he is doing is wrong and dangerous.
Here’s a closer, "Behind the Curtains” look at what Grassley said:
“Give each senator as much power as we can.” Tuberville would agree with that whole-heartedly.
“It’s meant to be that way. It’s always been that way” No it wasn’t meant to be that way, and no it hasn’t always been that way.. Holds placed on executive branch nominations by individual Senators - who by doing so can singlehandedly de-rail a nomination requiring Senate confirmation - are not mentioned at all in the U.S. Constitution. Massive holds designed to decapitate our own US armed forces command structure - which is often a military objective against an opponent in war times - has never been part of how the Senate operates.
Grassley wants to make sure the current power to place holds on executive branch nominations isn’t abused. What exactly would he call holding 370 high ranking military nominations hostage over an unrelated, relatively minor issue - paying travel expenses! - if it is not abuse.
Especially with two hot wars in progress involving US allies, and which could draw in the US at any moment.
The effect of Grassley statement is to give cover to Tuberville’s dangerous obstruction, not call it out or try to end it. It reveals the lie Grassley tells every time he claims to support the military.
What Tuberville is doing - and what Grassley can’t bring himself to criticize or even try to stop - isn’t support for the military. It’s sabotage of the US military. If Senator Grassley can’t muster up the moxie to plainly call that out, what good is he?
Senator Ernst has earned a salute and our thanks for doing her duty, for standing up to Tuberville and his silent enablers last Wednesday in the Senate; and for her work over the past several months to try to convince Tuberville to back off, even if tdhat effort doesn’t appear to be working.
Ernst’s Iowa colleague, Senator Grassley, however, has earned disapproval and disdain for being unable to call Tuberville out, for giving him cover, and for responding to Tuberville’s outrages more like a “bump on a log” would than as Senator who cares about protecting US national security, and has a responsibility to lead. Responsibly.
Forty two years in the Senate, and this is the best Chuck Grassley can do?
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Grassley continues to disappoint. His reputation has been shattered by his inertia in the Senate, time and time again.
Purposefully weakening the US military, either overtly or through silent enablement, especially now in this climate, seems as if one has made the decision to be a willing foreign asset.