Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Reckless Harm To Our National Security Risked By Senator Tuberville’s Blanket Hold on Military Promotions

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor on the Senator from Alabama causing havoc in our military and their families by holding promotions hostage. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

The Senator from Alabama continues his hold on more than 180, now, military promotions, blatantly ignoring many warnings of the harm he is causing to our national security. It’s reckless, it’s just reckless.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned that blocking these promotions “creates a ripple effect through the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be.” Do you hear that, Senator from Alabama? The Secretary of Defense is saying that what you do makes us far less ready than we need to be, at a time when China and Iran and Russia are causing all kinds of security problems and threats.

But Secretary Austin also emphasized another point, a very important one: the Senator’s stonewalling is having consequences, bad consequences, heart wrenching consequences, for our military families.

By blocking these promotions, the Senator from Alabama is blocking pay raises for these officers and their families.

By blocking these promotions, the Senator from Alabama is blocking military kids from starting new schools, setting them back in their education.

When a member of the military serves, their family serves too. Does the Senator from Alabama understand the disruption and chaos he is causing to military families? These are people serving us, they’re not political. They’ve worked hard, they’ve done a good job, they got a promotion. A promotion means moving, changes of venue, changes of school. It means a career path, how long you’ve been at one rank, then to another.

The Senator from Alabama is playing havoc with so many military families, who are nonpolitical, who have served our country well, who thought they were ready for promotion, until this cruel act of the Senator from Alabama stopped them.  

These military families have done nothing, nothing to deserve the disrespect and disdain shown by the Senator from Alabama. It’s insulting to our service members that one Senator—just one—is holding up what has long been a routine and non-partisan process.

Again, I urge my colleague from Alabama to think this through and stand down. We understand he has passion on the issue, we disagree with it vehemently, so do most Americans, but passion on the issue is not an excuse for causing havoc in the military, in terms of force, in terms of the lives of the families.

I would again plead with my Republican colleagues, whether it's public or private, to go to the Senator from Alabama and dissuade him from his folly.

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