[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 146 (Monday, September 11, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S4345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Military Promotions

  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, as you know, we are at an unprecedented 
moment in the history of the Senate. There are hundreds of brave, 
courageous leaders in our military who are being denied--promotions 
being denied--the rank that they deserve because of the actions of 
Senator Tuberville and Senate Republicans.
  And Senator Tuberville was out on the floor just moments ago 
defending his actions. I think most Americans believe that his hold on 
all of these promotions is indefensible. But what probably won't get 
covered is an additional idea that he presented to the Senate in his 
remarks.
  Senator Tuberville said today that he thinks that our military 
leadership should be fired for failing to defeat the Taliban. That is 
pretty extraordinary. For those of us who have served in the Senate and 
in the House during the time that we have been in Afghanistan, we had 
the opportunity to see that mission on the ground. It was a difficult, 
hard mission. Some might say it was an impossible mission, badly 
underresourced, right from the beginning.
  But the idea that our soldiers or our military leadership--captains, 
lieutenant colonels, generals--should be fired because they couldn't 
perform a mission that was likely impossible, that, frankly, will have 
an even bigger chilling effect than Senator Tuberville's hold on 
military promotions.
  There is no doubt that there should be consequences for gross 
negligence on the job in any profession, including the military, but 
for any of us who saw the work being done in Afghanistan, our military 
from the top down, they were doing the best they could under difficult 
circumstances.
  Refusing military promotions apparently isn't cruel enough. Now, 
Republicans want military leaders fired when they can't complete 
impossible, underresourced missions.
  This is a growing attack, a growing set of attacks on our military, 
and all in the service of a bunch of old men telling young women what 
healthcare they can get and what healthcare they can't get.