Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday blasted GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville for his monthslong hold over hundreds of military promotions.
“We don’t need to be using military families as political pawns,” Ms. Haley said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That’s a mistake … the military members and families — they sacrifice enough. They don’t need to be a pawn in Congress. But look at the political games that continue to play.”
Military leaders have accused Mr. Tuberville of Alabama of jeopardizing national security for blocking hundreds of promotions that would otherwise be passed in the Senate with unanimous consent.
Mr. Tuberville has rejected such assertions, and is preventing swift passage over the military paying for members to take time off and travel for out-of-state abortions if the procedure is blocked where they’re stationed.
Mr. Tuberville has received bipartisan criticism. But despite her critical remarks, Ms. Haley said she does not agree with the Department of Defense policy and vowed to put an end to it if elected president.
“You have to do these things through Congress, we have three branches of government for a reason,” said Ms. Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and ex-South Carolina governor. “You can’t slip something in there like that and think that Congress is not going to be upset.”
The “Department of Defense started this. I’m not saying Senator Tuberville is right and doing this because I don’t want to use them as pawns,” she added.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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