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Floor Speech

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Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I come to the floor to talk about how we are currently failing our most senior military leaders, a failing caused entirely by my colleague the senior Senator from Alabama.

Members of our All-Volunteer Force answer the call to service by choice. No one is making them serve. They choose to serve. For their sacrifices, we owe them many things--fair pay, healthcare, veterans' benefits--to make sure they land on their feet after their service is done. And we must also make sure they can do the hard, sometimes dangerous, work they volunteered for without partisan politics getting in their way.

And yet my colleague has placed an indefinite hold on the nominations of all general officers, preventing a still growing number of our most senior leaders from taking on the challenges of their next positions and leaving critical gaps in our military leadership.

My colleague from Alabama is harming our military readiness and our servicemembers not out of concern about the promotion process or the ethical or professional qualifications of any of the nominees, he is doing it to score cheap political points, to fundraise with his base, and to try to force a policy that he personally disagrees with to change, not by legislating it like the voters of Alabama sent him here to do but holding our most senior military leaders hostage.

If my colleague had legitimate concerns about the fairness of the promotion process or felt these nominees were not qualified ethical leaders, this might be a different story.

In fact, as my colleague pointed out, I once held some, but certainly not all, nominations. But I only did it for 14 days because I was attempting to stop the administration in the White House at the time from inserting politics into a nonpartisan promotion process.

I had legitimate, well-founded concerns that an Army colonel--a single colonel's promotion would be withheld from consideration as political retaliation against him.

I held the list of promotions for just 14 days until I received assurances that he had received fair consideration, just like the rest of his peers, and then I released my hold.

Put it another way. I wanted to make sure that the military promotion process--the one we use to make sure our military is led by the best, most qualified people--was not being politicized.

My colleague is doing the exact opposite. He is trying to change DOD policy not by legislating but by holding up well-deserved promotions to the detriment of leaders who have willingly served decades in uniform, all the servicemembers who are supposed to serve under them, and our national security because he wants to insert politics into this historically nonpartisan process.

If he doesn't like the DOD policy, then he can engage in the NDAA legislative process to change it. It is coming up. The Senator will have a chance to do that.

The nominations that my colleague is holding represent experienced professionals who, if confirmed, will tackle some of the biggest challenges that our military faces.

In some cases, the positions are completely vacant, and that job just isn't being done at all. I will only talk about a few of these nominations today, but the already long list grows each month.

In a moment, I will ask the Senate to confirm MG Heidi J. Hoyle, U.S. Army, to be a lieutenant general and the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, of the U.S. Army. The Army G-4 develops, implements, and oversees Army strategy, policy, plans, and programming for logistics and sustainment, some of the most challenging, if not the most challenging, issues for the Army to address.

Take it from a broken-down old soldier, logistics might not be sexy, but without them the Army doesn't run. And the logistics and sustainment needs of tomorrow's fight will be very different from those of the last wars we have fought.

We need to be working through these problems now, figuring out new strategies and plans, developing new systems that will serve our soldiers better. That is exactly what the Army G-4 does. It is not optional; it is necessary. And we need Major General Hoyle's leadership, or it is our troops, out in front, who will suffer.

48, Major General Heidi J. Hoyle, to be Lieutenant General; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I am disappointed the Senate is not able to confirm MG Heidi Hoyle today. As I said earlier, the work Major General Hoyle would do, if confirmed, is vital to the success of our Army.

And now I want to consider another patriot whose promotion is being held by my colleague from Alabama: Brig. Gen. Rebecca Sonkiss, U.S. Air Force.

Brigadier General Sonkiss is the current commander of the 618th Air Operations Center, the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott Air Force Base in my home State of Illinois.

The 618th Air Operations Center is responsible for operational planning, as well as scheduling, directing, and assessing a fleet of about 1,100 aircraft that conduct combat delivery and strategic airlift, air refueling, global air mobility support, and aeromedical operations around the world.

General Sonkiss, a command pilot who has had a distinguished career of service to her country, is leading the 618th Air Operations Center as it does some of the most complex, most important, least celebrated work in the Air Force. And yet her promotion is being held up, not because of concerns about the fairness of the process or her own qualifications. No, her promotion has not been granted because one Senator would rather use her and other servicemembers like her to try to manipulate the DOD into doing what he wants instead of engaging in the legislative process.

I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Calendar No. 110, 23 nominations.

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Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, by refusing to confirm nominations to positions of vital importance within the DOD, the senior Senator from Alabama and some of his colleagues continue to risk our military readiness and our national security. And they continue to deny patriots, who have voluntarily served our country for decades, the promotions they have earned as a means of trying to influence policy through extortion, instead of through legislation or oversight.

I call on all my colleagues to join me in opposing the actions of the senior Senator from Alabama for the sake of our military readiness and for those who serve.

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