Standing up on abortion to most politicized Pentagon in American history

OPINION:

Last week, Democrats tried — and failed — for the sixth and seventh times to cram some 200 military nominations through the U.S. Senate in a single evening.

I’m not letting that happen. Here’s why.

I’m refusing to fast-track Pentagon promotions because Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has unilaterally imposed an unlawful abortion policy for our military. Under the new policy, taxpayers are forced to pay for travel and three added weeks of paid leave for military service members — and their dependents — to get noncovered, elective abortions.

Nobody in Congress voted for this. The Pentagon did it unilaterally in February by sending a policy memo.

That’s not how our system is supposed to work. Under the Constitution, Congress writes the laws, and Congress directs all federal spending. Yet Mr. Austin has effectively changed the law and spent money without Congress taking a vote. That’s a dangerous overreach by the executive branch.

In fact, Congress has already voted on this. In 1984, Congress passed — and President Ronald Reagan signed — a law that strictly limits military funding of abortion to cases of rape and a threat to the health of the mother. Under President Bill Clinton, Congress added an exception for incest as well.

So, an unelected political appointee isn’t just acting without Congress; he is directly violating a law passed by Congress. I’m not going to sit by and let this happen.

Despite what you may have heard, I am not stopping any nominee from being promoted or confirmed. They could all be voted upon — if the Senate’s Democratic majority wanted that to happen. Yet Democrats have refused. In fact, they’ve been in a panic trying to avoid voting, which is why they have tried over and over again to sneak these nominations through using unanimous consent.

It is entirely reasonable for the Senate to vote on these nominations. Shouldn’t we thoughtfully consider the nominees for some of the most powerful positions in the military?

It’s not like we are too busy. The Senate has been historically unproductive this year. We’ve had more than 30 days off — a full month — in addition to weekends this year. We’re not even halfway through the year.

Democrats’ political stunt last week took up several hours of time on the floor. Since March, we’ve spent a total of more than 10 hours going through this charade. Each time, Democrats knew their antics would get nowhere. This is valuable time that we could have spent actually voting.

So far, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, has refused to schedule a single military officer for a vote. Instead, he has gone to the floor six different times to attack me personally and to blatantly mischaracterize my words and actions. Mr. Schumer could have spent that time confirming nominees.

Mr. Schumer is not the only Democrat spreading misinformation. For example, just last week, Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Jacky Rosen of Nevada both claimed that my hold has created vacancies in military positions and leadership. That is not true. No job is going unfilled. The military keeps officers in place until their replacements are confirmed. All of these jobs are being done.

Democrats clearly think this is good politics. More than a month ago, Mr. Schumer sent a letter saying my hold was “not a good look for Republicans.” Instead of worrying about what’s “a good look,” he should be worried about what’s best for the military and what’s best for the taxpayer. And frankly: What’s actually not a “good look” is Democrats defending an executive branch politicizing the military and overstepping the law. I suspect that if former President Donald Trump were in the White House, Senate Democrats would feel differently about the executive branch overstepping its authority.

I understand that my colleagues across the aisle are big supporters of abortion. But they aren’t entitled to force taxpayers to pay for it. There is a wide variety of views on abortion in this country, but a strong majority of the American people oppose funding it with taxpayer dollars.

If Democrats want me to drop my hold, then the answer is very simple. I have laid out two conditions for me to allow batch approvals of promotions and nominees: either follow the law or change the law.

I’m a man of my word. I will drop my holds as soon as Mr. Austin suspends his memo providing military funds and resources to facilitate unrestricted abortions.

The burden is not on me to undo an illegal policy. The burden is on the Biden administration to follow the law.

And so, no matter how much misinformation Democrats spread, I will continue to stand up to the most politicized Pentagon in American history.

• Tommy Tuberville is an American politician and retired college football coach who is the senior United States senator from Alabama, a seat he has held since 2021. Before entering politics, Mr. Tuberville was the head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008.