No. of Recommendations: 6
Senator Dan Sullivan rose to request a voice vote to promote the 5th Fleet naval commander who would be in charge of the two carrier strike groups in the Middle East. Easy peasy, right? I mean, there's a war going on over there, right? And it's important to put him in charge, right?
Tuberville said he'd be okay with senators calling up pending military nominations individually, so that's what the republicans did tonight, just what Tuberville asked, first bringing up this naval commander.
Tuberville objected.
Republicans are pissed.
This has become a national security issue (and a 2024 election commercial for democrats) and senator Lindsey Graham said they are going to request voice votes individually on all 376 pending military nominations being blocked by Tuberville.
Well, Tuberville is one of the dumbest guys in the Senate. He's the guy who said the three branches of government are "the House, the Senate, and the Executive".
No. of Recommendations: 14
Here is where both Democrats and Republicans lose me on this appointment logjam. A WaPo story on this latest intra-Republican squabble tonight said this:
The Senate can bypass Tuberville's hold by voting on officers individually, which it has done in only three instances, but to do so now for every frozen nomination would take months and impede action on numerous other issues.
Okay. I get that.
SO DO IT.
I know there are hundreds of promotions backlogged. But what else does the Senate have to do? The Republican leadership in the House is incapable of crafting any legislation that can pass muster within the House Republican caucus and there is no legislation the Senate can pass that will satisfy the same House extremists.
So the Senate should focus on things that are exclusively within its purview and knock them out. Even if they have to sit for twelve hours a day, 30 minutes per vote and get 24 promotions approved per day.
This tactic would do more to aid national security and gradually erode Tuberville's influence than three weeks of pointless navel gazing before the debt ceiling is hit and suddenly lights everyone on fire.
WTH
