[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 206 (Thursday, December 14, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5976-S5977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I rise today to ask the Senate to confirm 
Ron Keohane to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and 
Reserve Affairs.
  In this role, Mr. Keohane will be the principal adviser to the 
Secretary of Defense on all matters relating to the civilian and 
military personnel policies. He is extremely well-qualified for this 
role, previously serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense 
for Military Community and Family Policy.
  We need someone with Mr. Keohane's sense of experience to oversee and 
develop policies to support our servicemembers and their families, as 
well as to oversee our DOD schools. Strong leadership is also essential 
to address our military recruiting crisis.
  I recently held a hearing in my subcommittee, which the Senator from 
North Carolina attended, that identified a long list of areas where our 
military services can continue to step up to inspire more young people 
to serve. They need someone like Mr. Keohane to make sure that the 
services actually follow through.
  No one is disputing Mr. Keohane's qualifications. The Senate Armed 
Services Committee voted unanimously to advance his nomination. The 
only reason that Mr. Keohane's nomination has not already been approved 
is because

[[Page S5977]]

the Senator from North Carolina is willing to play politics with our 
national defense.
  As we all know by now, the Senator from North Carolina disagrees with 
the Department of Defense's policy to help members of the military and 
their families access healthcare, specifically reproductive healthcare. 
Republican Senators claim they wanted a vote on DOD's policy on 
abortion; but just this week, they lost a vote to move forward toward 
overturning that policy. So if they can't get it on a straight-up vote, 
they are now blocking Mr. Keohane out of spite.
  Last week, after months of undermining our national security, the 
Senator from Alabama backed down with nothing to show for his nearly 
yearlong blockade of promotions for hundreds of senior military 
officials--nothing to show, that is, except for the long-term damage he 
inflicted on our military personnel, on their families, and on our 
military readiness.
  So now the Senator from North Carolina is stopping well-qualified 
nominees. He has no specific objection to this nominee. In fact, the 
Senator serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee that unanimously 
advanced Mr. Keohane's nomination. But the Senator from North Carolina 
now blocks the confirmation of Mr. Keohane.
  We need leaders at the Department of Defense. Blocking these 
confirmations is corrosive to our national security.
  Our Nation cannot continue to hold key national security officials 
hostage. We must put the safety and well-being of our servicemembers 
first. Our greatest strength as a nation is our people, and we need a 
confirmed leader like Mr. Keohane to make sure that our servicemembers 
have everything they need to succeed.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
following nomination: Calendar No. 109, Ronald T. Keohane, of New York, 
to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense; that the Senate vote on the 
nomination without intervening action or debate; and that, if 
confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon 
the table, and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's 
action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BUDD. Reserving the right to object.
  Mr. President, Mr. Keohane has been nominated to be the Assistant 
Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, which is the 
senior leadership role in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense 
for Personnel and Readiness. This is the very office responsible for 
the Department of Defense's abortion travel policy.
  I have been very clear with the Pentagon since the day that I placed 
a hold on Mr. Keohane that I would be happy to release it if Secretary 
Austin would rescind this abhorrent policy.
  This policy has been politicized. It has politicized the military. It 
has harmed the institutional norms of our country.
  Beyond the clear violation of basic morality, Congress never 
authorized the Department to use taxpayer funds to facilitate elective 
abortions. Now for the Biden administration to begin such a policy and 
use taxpayer resources to aid in the taking of unborn life, it defies 
the will of Congress. And it violates the spirit--if not the letter--of 
the law. Now taxpayers--many of whom have deeply held religious and 
moral objections to abortions--they are on the hook to facilitate the 
very abortions that they fundamentally oppose.
  Worse yet, the Pentagon's stated reason for issuing the policy was 
that the Supreme Court Dobbs decision had ``readiness, recruiting, and 
retention implications.'' This is total nonsense. The Pentagon was, and 
is still able, to provide any data or evidence to support their claim. 
For the administration to cling to this policy is just wrong.
  At the end of the day, whether it was the hundreds of holds from my 
colleague from Alabama or my hold on Mr. Koehane, the reason to resolve 
and the power to resolve this situation, it begins and ends with the 
power of one man, and that is Secretary Lloyd Austin. With the stroke 
of a pen, Secretary Austin can fix this situation and end the impasse. 
It is time for him to do the right thing and to rescind the policy now.
  I object.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I think what the Senator from North 
Carolina has just said is he doesn't like the abortion policy that the 
Department of Defense has adopted.
  He is right. It is a new policy. It is a policy that was made 
necessary because an extremist Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade with 
the Dobbs opinion and forced the military to have to decide how to deal 
with access to healthcare, access to abortions for people who were now 
involuntarily stationed in States where that care was no longer 
available.
  The Senator, and all of the Republicans, were offered a vote on the 
Department of Defense's policy. And we voted just this week on a 
measure that would move toward that vote. And it failed. In other 
words, the Republicans who oppose this policy simply don't have the 
votes.
  So instead of yielding to the will of the majority and letting this 
policy go through without a problem, instead, they play politics with 
the people who are trying to serve our Nation.
  That Mr. Keohane gets caught in this--someone who is willing to serve 
our Nation and, most importantly, right now, to help our servicemembers 
live their best opportunities in the military at a time when we are 
having recruiting challenges, is just putting politics ahead of the 
defense of the United States; it is putting politics ahead of our 
servicemembers and putting politics ahead of our servicemembers' 
families.
  I think this is fundamentally wrong. They had a vote; they lost; they 
don't like it; and they are holding Mr. Keohane just out of spite.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.