-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TUBERVILLE. This is the ninth time I am coming forward to keep my word. Since the last time we did this, nothing has changed, and so my hold will remain in place.
I want to be clear about this because my Democratic colleagues have been spreading a little bit of disinformation. I am not blocking anyone from getting confirmed. I am not blocking a single vote. I am only blocking unanimous consent. If Democrats want to vote on these nominees one at a time, I am all for it and will probably vote for them.
I understand that Senator Cardin is a strong supporter of this nominee. I am a strong supporter of the Naval Academy. I have several relatives who have gone to the Naval Academy. It is possible that when these come up, I will vote on all of them. But, so far--let me just respond to some of the false claims that have been made against me in the press and even on this floor in the last week or so.
Yesterday, the White House Press Secretary was asked why they haven't reached out to me at all from the White House. She said:
I do not know when the last time is that [the White House] has talked to the Senator.
I will tell you when the last time was--never. The White House has not reached out to me once in 4 months. No one has contacted me. There has not been one conversation about a path forward.
I have spoken to Secretary Austin, outside of Armed Services hearings, exactly once in the last 2 years. That was a 10-minute phone call 3 months ago. He made absolutely no effort to find a compromise in our situation.
I have never once heard from Chairman Reed on this issue, of the Armed Services Committee--absolutely no discussion regarding my concerns. Instead, Senator Reed has attacked me on this floor.
I have never once heard from Senator Schumer. Instead, Senator Schumer has attacked me six or seven times on this floor in his seat.
Many of the claims made about me have been completely false.
This is no way to negotiate with a colleague. I don't understand it-- especially not in this body, the United States Senate. Frankly, this kind of behavior just steels my resolve. The more false claims my colleagues on the left make about me, the more it makes me inclined to just keep my hold in place.
I have already laid out the reasons why these claims do not add up. I don't need to repeat them all as we speak. We don't need to waste time. But I would note that yesterday a news story reported correctly that these military positions are being fulfilled by acting officials. These jobs are being done as we speak. They are not empty. Four months into this situation, it is obvious that people are doing the job. It is not affecting our readiness. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
So let me just say this one more time because I keep getting asked the same question over and over again. I will keep my hold until the Pentagon follows the law or Congress changes the law. That is the way we do it here in the Senate.
A show vote in committee is not good enough. We can do that all we want, but it is not going to make any difference. An amendment that gets stripped out on the floor by Senator Schumer is not good enough. What I have said from the beginning is either follow the law or change it. Follow the law we have made in this body or change the law.
The burden is not on me. It is not on me to pass this legislation. This is an illegal policy that they changed to. So let's in this body discuss it and go one way or the other. The burden is on the administration to stop breaking the law, and that is exactly what is going on here.
There are two conditions that would get me to stop this and drop this hold, and I think everybody knows those conditions.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source