[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 83 (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1689-S1691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, I want to express how deeply concerned I am 
about the senior Senator from Alabama's blockade of senior military 
promotions, which threatens to leave hundreds of nonpolitical, routine 
military positions unfilled, all because he wants to repeal the 
Department of Defense's policy that allows servicemembers to be able to 
seek and travel for reproductive care.
  This is a move that risks our national security in order to rob our 
servicemembers of their ability to make their own family planning 
decisions, servicemembers who, frankly, are sacrificing so much to keep 
our country safe.

[[Page S1690]]

  So failure--failure--to fill these positions poses a risk to our 
Nation's military readiness and our ability to ensure that these 
critical roles are filled with the personnel that we need.
  Don't just take my word for it. Seven--seven--former Secretaries of 
Defense from both Democratic and Republican administrations have voiced 
their concern and opposition to these holds.
  Secretary Austin and General Milley have also repeatedly stated that 
these delays pose a clear risk--a clear risk--to America's military 
readiness.
  In a moment, I will be asking the Senate to confirm by unanimous 
consent Calendar No. 110. Included in this batch of 23 routine military 
promotions is the current vice commander of the Air Force Warfare 
Center at Nellis Air Force Base. This is the home of our Air Force 
fighter pilots right in Nevada, where America's air combat tactics are 
developed, where they are refined, and where they are perfected to 
ensure that we keep pace with current and emerging threats.
  Training and instruction take place right at the Nevada Test and 
Training Range, which provides the largest air and ground military 
training space in the continental United States for testing and 
evaluation of weapons systems and advanced air combat training.
  Because of one Senator's anti-choice blockade, the vice commander of 
the Air Force Warfare Center in my great State of Nevada, which 
oversees more than 13,000 military and civilian personnel, is unable to 
receive the promotion and the pay increase that he deserves. He is 
unable to transition to his next duty assignment, and his replacement 
is unable to assume their duties and move their family to Las Vegas.
  This hurts military families. This hurts Nevada. This hurts the 
United States of America.
  We will also experience several high-ranking vacancies that are going 
to be left open because of this senseless blockade, including Chairman 
of the Joint Chiefs, the top leaders of the Army, Marine Corps, and 
Navy, and even the commander of U.S. Cyber Command.
  We have a responsibility to keep our Nation safe, to protect our 
homeland and our troops all around the world. That begins by making 
sure that we have the appropriate professionals in top positions to 
lead our servicemembers. Nothing--I repeat, nothing--could be more 
important than that.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to stop playing politics. I strongly 
urge them to end this anti-choice blockade so that we can fill critical 
military positions like those in my home State of Nevada and around the 
world. We cannot waste any more time.
  So, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to 
the consideration of Executive Calendar No. 110; that the Senate vote 
on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that if 
confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon 
the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statements 
related to the nomination be printed in the Record; and that the 
President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this is 
the sixth or seventh time that I have come to the floor to stop my 
colleagues on the left from cramming these nominations down our throat, 
but I will come to the floor as many times as possible.
  We have spent almost 12, 13 hours--or I have--during the last few 
weeks with these UCs. Last night, we were here debating this for about 
2 hours. That is fine. That is what we are supposed to do in the 
Senate. We are supposed to debate, and I am not against that, but we 
also could have spent time voting.
  I understand the Senator from Nevada has someone she wants promoted. 
I am fine with that. If she brings it to the floor, Senator Schumer 
brings it to the floor, I will vote for them. I am not here blocking 
nominees; I am here blocking promotion of all of these nominees at one 
time.
  I would love to vote for her nominee, but Leader Schumer is 
responsible for that. He is responsible for the floor. Bring 
nominations one at a time, and I will vote for them. I am all for the 
military. That is one of the reasons I am here. But we have got to use 
our time better. That is what Senator Schumer says. Our time is spent 
on nominations.
  We have been here for about 5 months. We have been on vacation 30 
days, and we could have done all of those nominations in that amount of 
time. It is amazing to me how we don't want to do our job one at a time 
instead of just doing them all at once.
  Senator Schumer has said so in a ``Dear Colleague'' letter this 
month. He said the Senator from Alabama has got a hold and it doesn't 
look good for Republicans. I don't know what doesn't look good. I am 
standing up for the rule of law. What is not a good look is the 
Democrats coming to the floor and defending--defending--an executive 
branch that is not doing their job; they are trying to do ours.
  I understand the Senator from Nevada is a strong supporter of 
abortion, and that is good. We all have differences of opinion about 
that. But even she didn't vote for this. She didn't vote for this memo 
that Secretary Austin pushed on the military. Nobody voted for it. I am 
surprised that Democrats in Congress are supportive of the executive 
branch doing our job, that a lot of people spent a lot of money 
campaigning and trying to win this position.
  Let's do our job. That is all I am asking. Let's do our job. We ought 
to be voting on every one of these nominees that I have got these holds 
on. I am not against voting for them; I am against voting for all of 
them at one time. It would be a better use of our time if we would come 
here, vote, and go back to our office like we normally do.
  If Democrats were actually concerned about these nominations--and I 
am going to say it for the hundredth time--if they were actually 
concerned about our national security and the things that are going on 
around the world, we would be taking these nominees one at a time--one 
at a time--and getting them knocked out instead of worrying about 
coming here and doing this debate, complaining at each other about what 
is going on, when the executive branch is doing our job and we are not 
doing ours.
  Today, I saw some discussion from Senator Shaheen. I saw her talking 
about it on MSNBC today. Her bill that she is throwing out would simply 
change the law to make this memo legal. I do not support this 
legislation, but we ought to take a vote on it. That is what we do 
here. If she wants to put a bill on the floor, let's take a vote on it. 
If the House and the Senate pass it and Joe Biden signs it, then it is 
in the law, but if the bill fails, then Congress has spoken. So if 
Senator Shaheen's bill fails, Secretary Austin then should accept the 
consequences and the sense of Congress, follow the law, and suspend the 
policy.
  So if Democrats want me to drop my holds, then the answer is very 
simple. I have laid out two conditions for me to end the holds: Either 
follow the law or change the law. I will drop my holds as soon as 
Secretary Austin suspends the memo. The burden is not on me to undo the 
policy, this illegal policy; the burden is on the Biden administration 
to follow the law.
  Democrats have mentioned that we have some very important nominees 
coming up, and we do. That includes the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff. I agree--very much agree--that this is a very important, very 
important situation where we need a new Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman. 
But we need to vote on some of these nominees anyway. These roles are 
too important to just put everybody in one group and send them here and 
nobody knows who they are and just run them through.
  I will have more to say on that later, but, to this point, I hope I 
have been clear. I have laid out the conditions for my holds and when I 
will drop my holds. These conditions have not been met, and I will not 
drop this hold until they are met.
  So, Mr. President, that is the reason I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Nevada.
  Ms. ROSEN. I thank the Presiding Officer so much for saying 
``Nevada'' properly. I urge the rest of my colleagues to learn the 
proper pronunciation for our great State of Nevada.

[[Page S1691]]

  With that, I am going to respond to the objection by my esteemed 
colleague Senator Tuberville.
  The senior Senator from Alabama is preventing this body from 
confirming dozens of key promotions. We do know who these military 
promotions are. They have been serving proudly and with distinction in 
our military. They are not unknown to us. They deserve their 
promotions.
  The Senator is threatening our military readiness and our national 
security, and we can confirm these nominations right now if the Senator 
ends his blockade. Every day--every day--these holds persist, every day 
the Senator persists, he risks the U.S. national security and he risks 
our military readiness. Because we lack officials in key posts across 
the military at this critical time, we know we need to do this en bloc. 
It is what we have been doing.
  These men and women, serving proudly, are ready for their promotions, 
ready to take their next duty step.
  I just want to make one point before I go. Make no mistake, our 
adversaries--they are watching this very closely. Russia, China, Iran, 
and others--they understand how this hurts our military, and they will 
look and find a way to take advantage of this.
  So I am deeply disappointed that the Senator is continuing to object. 
We hope he will reconsider.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, I come here today to talk about 
Police Week, but before I do--I had the opportunity to listen to my 
colleague from Nevada push an important point here, and it is not lost 
on me and the general public watching this, thinking how crazy this 
argument is, at the end of the day. I just heard my good colleague 
Senator Tuberville basically say he is not opposed--he actually would 
vote for the individual Senator Rosen just said she was asking him to 
support, their promotion. He said he would do it.
  The only thing that is holding him up is that, instead of what we 
have traditionally done in this body through unanimous consent for 
promotions for the men and women in our military, which is a procedure 
we do all the time, he is forcing it to go to a floor vote. It makes no 
sense. It makes no sense to me. It makes no sense to the American 
public who are watching this and clearly is an abuse of the use of the 
powers we have as Senators in this body.
  So I just have to point that out because this is what we are dealing 
with, unfortunately, at times when the American public just wants us to 
work together to move forward. The men and women in the military 
seeking promotions--that is what this is about, and we should be 
supporting them because they are the ones standing guard, protecting us 
and our national security.
  So I just have to point that out, that the craziness sometimes in 
this body I see is just nonsensical.