McCaul says U.S. senator ‘paralyzing’ the Pentagon

A key Texas Republican is calling out the political tactics of a U.S. senator from Alabama for holding up more than 300 military appointments and promotions including that of San Antonio native Charles Q. Brown Jr., an Air Force general who is in line to be the nation’s highest-ranking military official.

“This is paralyzing the Department of Defense,” U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, said in a national television interview Sunday.

McCaul, the House Foreign Affairs chairman, said on CNN that one man is essentially creating a national security issue by leaving positions and posts unfilled within the military chain of command.

“I really wish he would reconsider this,” said McCaul, whose 10th Congressional District stretches from Austin to Katy.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville has used a rare tactic to delay all military appointments to protest a U.S. Department of Defense policy that allows soldiers and their families to be reimbursed for travel to obtain an abortion. Any member of the Senate can use his or her authority to delay appointments, which is typically done for judicial appointments or other key posts.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has previously said he wants to see the appointments bottleneck resolved but has refused to blame Tuberville, instead targeting Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“The reason why we are where we are is (Schumer) refuses to use the tools that he has to move these high-level military noms,” Cornyn told CNN this summer. “Sen. Tuberville’s using the tools that are available to any United States senator, and that is to deny consent, but Sen. Schumer can always trump that. He just refuses to do so because he likes the political narrative.”

But Democrats have repeatedly said it’s Republicans who are holding up the appointments and it is up to them to get Tuberville to allow a vote.

Brown is set to become the first native Texan to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the most senior military officer in the U.S. and a key advisor to the White House. Mark Milley, who holds the post now, is supposed to leave at the end of the month to make way for Brown, who has already been approved by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee but needs full Senate confirmation to get the position.

Brown’s family has deep military ties in San Antonio. His grandfather, Robert E. Brown Jr., served in an all-Black unit in the Pacific during World War II. His parents, retired Army Col. Charles Brown and Kay Tanner Brown, lived on the West Side.

The younger Brown was born at Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio. After attending high school in Newport News, Va., he returned to Texas and graduated in 1984 from Texas Tech University.

But it’s not just Brown's promotion being held up. Hundreds of other soldiers are also impacted by Tuberville’s holds including key positions at Joint Base San Antonio within the Air Force and Army.

“Since Sen. Tuberville began his blockade, my office has been getting emails and calls from people who are outraged that one senator would cause so much damage just because he disagrees with a policy that is completely unrelated to the promotions earned by our service members,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said. “Americans want to see our military leaders get the promotions they earned.”

An advocacy group for military families, the Secure Families Initiative, says Tuberville’s holds are affecting families as soldiers wait for their official orders to transfer to new locations, impacting their spouses’ jobs and schools for their children.

The issue stands to get more attention in the GOP presidential primary where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has become increasingly vocal in opposing Tuberville’s tactics because of the impact on military families.

“We don’t need to be using military families as political pawns,” Haley said told Tapper on CNN in a separate interview. “That’s a mistake … the military members and families — they sacrifice enough. They don’t need to be a pawn in Congress. But look at the political games that continue to play.”

But Haley has also agreed that the Pentagon’s abortion policy should be reversed and has promised to make sure it is if she were elected president.