Behind Sen. Tuberville’s military holds over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, and how it has sparked a countermove to alter Senators’ individual authority.
A few hours before the Senate Rules Committee was scheduled to meet on Nov. 14 regarding a procedural change to how lawmakers process military appointments and promotions, 27 Republican senators demanded that Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Lloyd Austin stop the Pentagon from paying travel expenses for servicewomen seeking abortions.
“You have broken your promise to the American people not to politicize the military, and your actions have harmed and threaten to further harm institutional norms within our democracy,” the letter to Mr. Austin read.
The letter criticized the DOD for issuing a memo four days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.
The memo reiterated existing DOD policy that authorizes “active duty service members to travel as necessary to receive abortion care—either as government-funded, official travel for a covered abortion, or at the service member’s own expense on regular leave for all other cases.”
Led by Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), the lawmakers criticized Mr. Austin for expanding his June memo on Oct. 20, 2022, to include authorizing the payment of travel expenses of servicemembers’ dependents seeking abortions.
The senators also noted that “the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness confirmed that this policy extends to late-term abortions” during congressional testimony in July.
The senators demanded that Mr. Austin rescind both policies.
“All legislative power is vested in Congress, and the executive branch is responsible for implementing and enforcing the law. While the department may issue regulations, it can only do so under the laws authorized and enacted by Congress,” the letter read.
A letter from 27 senators that might otherwise seem only a mere policy dispute is, in fact, part of a much bigger backstory involving the apparent efforts of Mr. Austin and President Joe Biden to pack the top ranks of the U.S. military command structure with generals and admirals with left-wing political views.
