Sen. Tuberville's blockade of US military promotions takes a historic tradition to a radical new level – and could go beyond Congress' August break
Retrieved on:
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
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A U.S. senator has the prerogative of placing what is called a hold on a measure, preventing the Senate from acting on that measure.
Key Points:
- A U.S. senator has the prerogative of placing what is called a hold on a measure, preventing the Senate from acting on that measure.
- Senate Democrats have called him reckless, and more than 550 military families petitioned Tuberville and Senate leaders to end the stalemate.
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, has said he does not support a hold on military nominations.
No monopoly on Senate holds
- The practice of senators placing holds on legislation has become more frequent in recent decades.
- Republican Sen. J. D. Vance of Ohio placed a hold on the confirmation of Justice Department officials to protest the federal indictment of former president Donald J. Trump.
- The holds these senators are using make a connection between the agencies the senators want to take an action and the agencies’ nominees.
- Tuberville is using a hold to get the Senate to vote on a bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire that, if passed, would make the Defense Department’s policy law.
Holding promotions hostage
- Perhaps the most obvious cases occurred during the Civil War, when the Republican senators most committed to ending the war and ending slavery dragged their heels over promotions as a way to push that agenda.
- General George G. Meade is perhaps best known as the victorious U.S. general at the battle of Gettysburg.
- Other army promotions faced similar obstacles.
- These cases involve individuals, albeit in high positions, and in many cases political debate over the promotions involved discussions of their presumed support for the destruction of slavery as a war aim.
- This public obstruction spotlights how Senate rules, written and unwritten, offer opportunities for individual senators to impede the legislative process until their demands are met.