[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 181 (Thursday, November 2, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Military Nominations

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am pleased to follow my colleague 
from Rhode Island and join him in urging confirmation of these highly 
qualified and experienced men and women to positions of great trust and 
responsibility in our military, but they are just a fraction of the 
total whom we have an obligation to confirm.
  Rather than looking at the transcript of my remarks today, I urge my 
colleagues to view or read the record of last night. There were 3 to 4 
hours of eloquence and intransigence--eloquence on the part of a number 
of our colleagues, including Senator Graham, Senator Young, Senator 
Ernst, and Senator Sullivan, seeking to persuade one Member of the U.S. 
Senate whose intransigence is preventing the Nation from having the 
benefit of military leadership that it needs and deserves.
  Again and again and again, Senator Tuberville objected to 
confirmation of individual nominees for the highest and most 
responsible position in our U.S. military. Make no mistake, he said 
repeatedly that he would permit those nominees to go forward as long as 
they were considered individually, and our colleagues gave him the 
opportunity to allow them to go forward. But he has continued to change 
the goalposts, to alter the conditions of approving their confirmation, 
simply because of a personal preference on policy that those nominees 
had nothing to do with. Our colleagues made that point repeatedly, as 
well as the damage to our national security that is resulting from his 
intransigence. Our military readiness is undermined. Morale is reduced. 
Recruitment is severely damaged. The health and well-being of military 
families, including, most prominently, the Commandant of the Marine 
Corps--our prayers are with him. Our hearts are with his family. We 
hope for General Smith's speedy recovery.

  But, right now, our military is lacking the leadership that it needs 
in key positions around the world, and it is impacting not only their 
professional abilities but also their personal lives: kids going to 
school, selling homes. We are making life more difficult for men and 
women who serve and sacrifice to keep us safe.
  As one of our colleagues said last night--and I am quoting--I think I 
am done with this. I hope this body will be done with the intransigence 
of the Senator from Alabama and move forward with a resolution. I am 
proud to say I participated in drafting it. It is narrowly tailored to 
fit this situation, applying only to this session, for key positions in 
our military that are essential to confirm, seeking to surmount the 
obstructionism that has gridlocked and paralyzed this body in moving 
forward.
  It is time to reform the rule. That time is, in fact, overdue. The 
regrettable illness of our Commandant, the threats around the world, in 
Israel and Ukraine, make it no longer a matter of choice. We must move 
forward with this draft resolution, and I hope my colleagues will 
recognize the importance of doing so.
  As one of our colleagues on the other side said last night, this 
intransigence, this resistance to allowing the body to move forward and 
confirm these nominees is going to ``wreck'' the military. That is not 
some hypothetical fear; it is a real prospect that we need to avoid. 
The precedent of an individual Senator using a policy preference to 
stop confirmation is one that will potentially wreck this body's 
credibility and ability to move forward with key nominees for a variety 
of positions in the military and outside it.
  I yield the floor.