WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator and combat Veteran Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, today responded to U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) finally backing down and allowing many of the more than 450 critical military promotions he has been blocking—with the help of many of his Senate Republican colleagues’ silence—to finally move forward. For almost a year, Senator Tuberville’s reckless and damaging holds have been hurting our military readiness and national security, as well as forcing unnecessary harm on our military families.
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“This never should have taken so long. If he was going to cave like this, Senator Tuberville could have done it months ago and prevented all of the damage these holds have caused over the last year. And while I’m relieved he finally relented on most of these holds, it’s absurd that he’s still blocking some of our most senior 4-Star promotions even now.
“Because of Senator Tuberville, nearly 450 highly-skilled servicemembers that our military urgently needs serving in critical national security roles haven’t been able to at a time when our friends and allies are counting on us for support. And it’s not just our servicemembers and national security being hurt because of him. Whether it’s the military children who couldn’t enroll in new schools or the military spouses who couldn’t start new jobs, our military families—who should never be stuck in the middle of a political battle—were hurt by his needless, selfish and reckless crusade.
“So while it’s good that Senator Tuberville is finally listening to those of us who’ve been warning about the grave threat he was needlessly causing, his decision to back down today doesn’t erase the damage he’s caused. He—and the Republicans who let him get away with this for this long—should be ashamed of themselves for hurting our military and our military families like this.”
Duckworth has repeatedly calledfor Senator Tuberville to end his months-long blanket hold on military promotions. In September, Duckworth joined several of her Senate Democratic colleagues and military leaders in calling out Tuberville’s hold where she urged her Republican colleagues to stop simply disagreeing with Senator Tuberville in secret and to come forward and publicly condemn Tuberville’s dangerous military hold lest they be complicit in his efforts, too. In July, Duckworth also?joined?several of her Senate Democratic colleagues on the Senate floor to?condemn?Tuberville’s reckless, partisan hold. She also joined other SASC members in?calling on?U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to help end Tuberville’s hold. In a hearing, Duckworth?called?Tuberville out, arguing that his actions have left our Marines without a Commandant for the first time in more than a century, hold our servicemembers and military families hostage over an individual senator’s political agenda and threaten our military readiness and national security.
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