While the House is majoritarian, the Senate is another ballgame. One where the minority has influence.
Look no further than Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who has placed holds on around 300 U.S. military promotions due to the Pentagon policy of funding travel for female military personnel to get abortions—which violates Section 1093 of U.S. Code 10 that Department of Defense funding can’t be used for abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.
Confirming military promotions en blanc, which is what the Senate usually does with virtually no fanfare, requires unanimous consent. Mr. Tuberville’s holds mean that the Senate has to go through the usual voting process of cloture and a final roll call vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said that he wouldn’t do that and that the onus is on the Republicans to get Mr. Tuberville to release his holds. A simple majority is required on nomination votes.
Nonetheless, Mr. Tuberville’s holds exemplify that even though the GOP is in the minority in the Senate, they have power in the upper congressional chamber – a sentiment senators, including Mr. Tuberville himself, gave to The Epoch Times.
“Well, you got to have some kind of power, and that’s the only thing we have. People keep asking why are you doing this,” said Mr. Tuberville.
“Well, we hadn’t won anything in three years. I’m not trying to win here. I’m just trying to create a point that we don’t need dictation from White House in doing laws, we need to do that here,” he continued. “And American taxpayers, 60 percent of Democrats, Republicans and independents say that we don’t want any money going towards anything to do with abortion.”
“I think it’s a pretty strong reflection of the power of the Senate. The individual senators’ power has always come from their ability to obstruct,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “And it’s a tool that we all can use from time to time and do. He’s using it in a pretty significant way.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said that Mr. Tuberville’s tactic “tells you that [the] Senate needs new rules.
“When one guy can, one senator, who is not rational about this, can do this kind of damage to the military, there’s something wrong.”
“I think that the Senate Minority does have some powers, and this is one of them. I think that he’s played a very strong card,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)
