(Washington) – The US Congress on Tuesday approved more than 400 military appointments after a Republican Senator earlier announced the end of the blockade he imposed months ago to protest the Pentagon’s abortion policy.
President Joe Biden praised the Senate for moving quickly to approve the nominations of “425 highly qualified, patriotic military leaders.”
“These confirmations are long overdue and should never have been postponed,” he said in a statement, adding that “those who serve the nation deserve better than this.” »
“The Senate just unanimously confirmed hundreds of military promotions. “We are working to confirm the rest as soon as possible,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said late this afternoon on X (formerly Twitter).
Hundreds of promotions and confirmations of US military officials have been blocked for months in the Senate due to action by Republican-elect Tommy Tuberville.
He announced last Monday: “I release (the nominations) to everyone,” adding: “I think I still have an obstacle to selecting 11 four-star generals.”
This comes from Alabama, a conservator’s office, which is placed in the financial agreement by the Pentagon of the military voyager to abort, detaining that many more assets are superior to the driver after a decision of the superior course. ême last year.
In the Senate, only one senator (out of 100) has the power to block prompt approval of a nomination for federal office. The other 99 elected officials could then overcome this hurdle by organizing a series of votes to lift the ban.
But the problem posed by M. Tuberville was particular because of the tradition of confirming high military offices in groups and by consensus of senators.
To overturn his ban, it was necessary to organize a roll call vote on each named officer, an arduous process that could take months.
Pentagon spokesman Gen. Pat Ryder spoke to the press on Monday of “encouraging news” and stressed that the Pentagon “will continue to engage with Senator Tuberville and the Senate to urge the lifting of all barriers to the appointments of our generals and officers.”
