The U.S. Senate has circumvented holds by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville and confirmed the nominations of two senior military leaders, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The U.S. Senate, circumventing holds by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, on Thursday confirmed the nominations of two senior military leaders, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti was confirmed by a vote of 95-1 to lead the Navy, making her the first woman to serve as a Pentagon service chief and hold a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. David Allvin was also confirmed by a vote of 95-1 to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. The Senate was expected to vote later Thursday to confirm Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to serve as assistant commandant for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Franchetti’s historic confirmation as the chief of naval operations comes as Tuberville has drawn bipartisan criticism for holding up almost 400 military nominations in an effort to protest Pentagon abortion policy. In a remarkable display, several Republican senators angrily held the floor for more than four hours on Wednesday evening and called up 61 of the nominations for votes, praising each nominee for their military service. Tuberville, of Alabama, showed no signs of letting up, standing and objecting to each one.

Allvin is the vice chief of staff of the Air Force but has been serving as acting chief, since the previous top Air Force officer, Gen. CQ Brown, became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1. Allvin is a career air mobility pilot with more than 4,600 flight hours and key deployments in Afghanistan and Europe.

    • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldEnglish
      212·
      1 year ago

      And in a normal world it would. That is, if a sizeable majority of Republicans in Alabama weren’t backwater political terrorists. They fucking LOVE this shit, and the normal route to expulsion (i.e. voting his ass out) simply isn’t available as long as worms remain in their brain cavities.

      • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        Can’t speak to Alabamian’s thoughts on obstruction like this, but in NW FL many, if not most, Republicans are disgusted by this sort of thing. For example, they find Trump to be an embarrassment, don’t want to talk about him. Just because they vote R doesn’t necessarily mean they’re cheering these things on.

        Problem being, they’re not disgusted enough to vote D.

        And I should add, I’m old, and back in the day this sort of unthinkable fuckery involving our military would have seen him out on his ass instantly.