The U.S. Senate has circumvented holds by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville and confirmed the nominations of two senior military leaders, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The U.S. Senate, circumventing holds by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, on Thursday confirmed the nominations of two senior military leaders, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti was confirmed by a vote of 95-1 to lead the Navy, making her the first woman to serve as a Pentagon service chief and hold a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. David Allvin was also confirmed by a vote of 95-1 to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. The Senate was expected to vote later Thursday to confirm Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to serve as assistant commandant for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Franchetti’s historic confirmation as the chief of naval operations comes as Tuberville has drawn bipartisan criticism for holding up almost 400 military nominations in an effort to protest Pentagon abortion policy. In a remarkable display, several Republican senators angrily held the floor for more than four hours on Wednesday evening and called up 61 of the nominations for votes, praising each nominee for their military service. Tuberville, of Alabama, showed no signs of letting up, standing and objecting to each one.

Allvin is the vice chief of staff of the Air Force but has been serving as acting chief, since the previous top Air Force officer, Gen. CQ Brown, became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1. Allvin is a career air mobility pilot with more than 4,600 flight hours and key deployments in Afghanistan and Europe.

  • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zipEnglish
    551·
    1 year ago

    I don’t think “circumvent” is the correct term to describe this. They did it the hard way instead of the easy way. The easy way is to put up a chunk of nominees and pass them by unanimous consent. The Tube is blocking that by objecting. So they have to do it the hard way, one at a time, I believe with hours of debate, followed by a vote.

    I believe it’s practically impossible to handle the things that need to be handled (the hours are prohibitive), and it might even be actually impossible (there literally aren’t enough hours in a year).

    Tommy Fuck-a-duck can go smoke a tail pipe.

    • phillaholic@lemm.ee
      131·
      1 year ago

      This is why we have hundred page terms of service written in legalese for the most trivial shit, because if we let things up to traditions and norms, some fuckwit ruins it.