Pentagon officials have been frustrated for months over an Alabama senator’s blockade of more than 300 senior military nominations. But after the Marine Corps chief was hospitalized over the weekend, that frustration is turning into rage.

Gen. Eric Smith had been filling both the No. 1 and No. 2 Marine Corps posts from July until he was finally confirmed as commandant in September. He, along with more than 300 other senior officers, was swept up in the promotions blockade put in place by GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy.

In an interview Wednesday, Tuberville brushed off the comments from the DOD officials.

“They’re looking for someone to blame it on, other than themselves,” he said. “We could have all these people confirmed if they’d have just gone by the Constitution.

“I don’t listen to these people,” he added. “They’re just looking for any possible way to get themselves out of a jam.”

  • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Yes the rules AS CURRENTLY WRITTEN require that. Those rules can also be RE-Written which is exactly what I said to begin with! If you keep reading under the constitutional basis you will see:

    Through negative textual implication, the Constitution also gives a simple majority the power to set procedural rules.

    Procedural rules such as the above rule, can be rewritten with a simple majority.

    In fact not only am I telling you it works that way, it HAS actually worked that way!

    Notably, in 2013 and 2017, the Senate used the nuclear option to set a series of precedents that reduced the threshold for cloture on nominations to a simple majority.[5]: 3