The third major military retirement of the summer leaves the U.S. Navy as the latest branch operating with only interim leaders as a singular senator continues to block hundreds of military promotions and nominations from progressing through Congress in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy.
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti meets ... [+]
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday retired on Monday and his successor, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, will only be able to fill his role in an acting capacity until Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) ends his six-month streak of blocking the confirmations of high-ranking generals and admirals.
Franchetti, the first woman nominated to run the Navy in U.S. history, was appointed interim chief Monday and joined Gen. Eric Smith of the Marines and Gen. Randy George of the Army as interim chiefs, both of whom are stuck in the same holding pattern since their nominations were blocked in the Senate in July and August, respectively.
Franchetti — who has been second in command of the Navy since last fall — will be able to perform the duties of the chief of naval operations until she is confirmed, but cannot hire someone to fill the vice chief role or issue planning guidance to members of the Navy until she is confirmed.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he has talked to Tuberville about relinquishing the blockage on nominations several times but made little progress, and on Monday said the hold is “undermining America’s military readiness,” Politico reported.
Tuberville first started blocking confirmations of high-ranking generals and admirals in February and has since blocked at least 270 military nominations through a senatorial hold—an informal practice that can't completely stop a nominee's confirmation but does force the nomination to take place on the Senate floor, a much longer process that would now take months to complete because of the number of blocked nominations.
The Alabama senator is blocking the nominations in an effort to force the Pentagon to reverse a policy that gives service members time off and travel reimbursement if they seek out-of-state abortions.
“This is unprecedented. It is unnecessary. And it is unsafe,” Austin said at the Naval Academy Monday.
In response to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Defense department said in February that it would allow up to three weeks of administrative leave for service members and dependents forced to travel for an abortion, as many of the states with the most restrictive reproductive laws are home to major military bases. Tuberville has argued the policy is a misuse of government funding. President Joe Biden has argued that the blocked nominations jeopardize U.S. security and called them “irresponsible,” and several other members of Congress have also spoken against the holds, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky). Traditionally, nominees are confirmed in the Senate through a unanimous vote by the Armed Services Committee.
More vacancies. The staff chief of the Air Force, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., is expected to leave his post this year. Gen. David W. Allvin has been nominated as his replacement. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley, the country’s highest-ranking military officer, is also required to relinquish his job by October. Brown is expected to take the job.
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