Quit playing politics with human life

Considering the horrific atrocities committed by Iran-backed Hamas against civilians in Israel and the heightened threat environment, some journalists have asked if U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., will allow the Democrats’ preference for a block vote on hundreds of President Joe Biden’s military nominations. Former CIA head and notorious leftwing commenter for partisan causes, Michael Hayden, even made a veiled threat against Tuberville by stating that he should be “removed from the human race.” Tuberville’s office confirmed that the senator will not back down.

The narrative that Tuberville’s stance is dangerous picked up steam last week when Biden spokesperson John Kirby passionately defended the administration’s efforts to thwart the democratic process and make Americans pay for abortions in violation of conscience. At a press conference, Kirby said Tuberville’s effort to stop it is “impairing national security” by thwarting appointments of military leaders and for trying to “deprive” women in the military “necessary healthcare.”

But this is not accurate, and Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to give in to Tuberville’s requirement to bring up individual nominations for consideration rather than pushing them through in block votes proves it.

After the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, states were free to debate, organize, and pass laws regulating, permitting, or prohibiting abortion. For example, several states that had Republican majorities passed laws that aligned more with the rest of the West, which is more careful and restrictive than the permissive laws in states like New York and California. The democratic process was working after nearly five decades of the 1973 Roe’s short circuiting of the legislative branch to solve highly contentious issues.

Despite its insistence that after four years of the Trump era, the Biden White House is the great defender of democracy and norms, the Biden White House refused to honor the will of the people. The White House seized on its opportunity to leverage the institution that still holds the trust and support of most Americans—the Department of Defense. The White House pushed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to change Pentagon policy so that if a pregnant servicewoman is deployed in a state whose laws do not allow her to abort her baby, U.S. tax dollars appropriated for the military will pay for the pregnant woman to travel to a state whose laws permit the abortion. But federal law prohibits allowing American federal tax dollars to subsidize abortions.

This provision is famously named the Hyde Amendment after the late Congressman Henry Hyde. The Hyde solution was a compromise made shortly after Roe was decided and has been included with funding bills annually. Although voters could not pass more careful and restrictive laws on abortion because of Roe, no American who held orthodox beliefs on the sanctity of human life would be compelled by law to finance something that so egregiously violated these beliefs. While campaigning for the 2020 election, Biden called for the elimination of the compromise. He did not get his way, but Pentagon leadership’s new abortion travel coverage furthers the White House’s political agenda.

Sen. Tuberville responded to this usurpation of legislative prerogative and violation of the law by thwarting the Biden administration’s intent to promote and nominate military personnel and appointees as a block. Tuberville insists that each nominee should be considered individually, so the Senate can evaluate each on his merits and cast a vote. Democratic leader of the Senate Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reacted by refusing to put forward individual nominees, and then blamed Tuberville for the military’s backlogged promotions and claimed his intransigence was endangering U.S. national security.

But on Sept. 20, Schumer buckled and put forward the nomination of Gen. Charles Q. Brown to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Eric M. Smith to be the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and Gen. Randy George to be the chief of staff of the U.S. Army. They sailed through the Senate confirmation proceedings, proving that the one holding up military promotions and confirmations is Schumer, not Tuberville and his cooperative Republican colleagues.

The Biden Department of Veterans Affairs is also being used as a vehicle to push this agenda by changing its policies to cover the abortions of veterans and other beneficiaries. Thankfully, according to media reports, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has joined the Republicans and is insisting the VA comply with the law before he will approve President Biden’s nominee to lead the agency.

If Schumer and the Biden administration want to return to their preference of advancing Pentagon candidates by block votes so that veterans can get the care they require and the military can return to greater focus on deterring and winning real wars, they must retreat from their campaign to fight a policy war launched by ideologically committed advocates of abortion in the Biden White House.

The Biden administration claims to be the redeemer of democratic norms. But it has launched a constant assault on some of our most important institutions and norms. The power grab is made more egregious as the administration is exploiting the patriotism of Americans by using the nation’s warfighters and veterans as pawns. Elected officials are right to insist that all branches of the government honor the Constitution, respect the views of the voting public, and honor democratic norms by keeping the military free from the political fray.