US Sen. Tommy Tuberville faces backlash over refusing to lift his block on military promotions

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville has the internet frustrated over him as he refuses to lift his block on military promotions.

This block is affecting a number of senior military appointments in the Middle East, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

According to a spokesperson the Sen, will not be relenting until the Pentagon revokes its policy of reimbursing service members for healthcare-related travel, which according to him facilitates abortions.

On Sunday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that he had ordered the US Navy's Ford carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean, near Israel.

The USS Gerald Ford is the American Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier and is being deployed to the area with a guided missile cruiser and four destroyers, said Lloyd.

However, Tommy's blockade means that the current commander of the Navy's 5th fleet which is responsible for US naval operations in the Middle East- is still awaiting the promotion to deputy commander of US Central Command, which oversees the US forces and operations in the region.

The senator has control over the 5th fleet, US Air Forces Central and CENTCOM's deputy director of strategy, plans and policy.

Usually, the process entails the Senate majority leader to bring a vote to the floor with a list of proposed promotions. All the promotions are voted on collectively and passed with unanimous consent.

However, with the 69-year-old Republican's promise to give a “nay” the mass promotions are awaited by more than 300 nominees.

For now, if the Senate wants to promote a service member the upper chamber has to vote on individual people, which makes it an extremely slow process in times of quick decisions and aides.

In September, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to hold three key military promotions. The voting for the same was held separately as mentioned in the process above.

As of now Amiral Lisa Franchetti who was nominated as the chief of Naval Operations awaits confirmation on her promotion and has been leading on an acting basis.

This has the internet blowing up on the Senator with tons of Tweets:

“Serious question: Has there ever been a US Senator in American history who caused as much harm to our military As Tommy Tuberville?” wrote an X user.

People have been calling him names online such as “Hamas's little helper” and a "Russian asset."

"Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville must be so damn proud of himself, singlehandedly holding up key military promotions, and now we find ourselves in the midst of a crisis in the Middle East.

Nice going, Tommy. You’re doing Republicans proud!," wrote another on X (Formerly Twitter)

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.