'All for show': Senator who blocked military promotions rips Dem doing same thing to Trump

10 April

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama in 2021 (Image: President of Ukraine / Creative Commons)

A Republican lawmaker who held up hundreds of promotions for high-level military officers for months isn't a fan of a Democrat doing the same thing for President Donald Trump's appointees.

AL.com reported Thursday that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is now making his thoughts known about an ongoing blockade by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). Just as Tuberville did in 2023, Schatz is denying unanimous consent (the process by which the Senate conducts most official business) for hundreds of Trump administration nominees and several pieces of bipartisan legislation. Tuberville quote-tweeted a story from far-right outlet The Federalist suggesting Schatz was being a hypocrite for opposing Tuberville's 2023 hold while doing the same thing in 2025.

"It's all for show up here," the Alabama Republican wrote. "Theatre. Fake outrage."

Among the nominees Schatz is blocking include Trump's pick to lead the Office of Personnel Management, his nominee for inspector general for the U.S. Department of Labor, and nine bills that made it through the committee level and are awaiting a vote on the Senate floor. Some of those bills include legislation Schatz personally voted for as a member of both the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees.

Earlier this week, Schatz made it clear to dispute the notion that he was going against his previous characterization of Tuberville as a "maniac" for his 10-month hold on military promotions. When CNN host Jake Tapper played a clip of a 2023 floor speech Schatz gave in which he unleashed on Tuberville over his denial of unanimous consent, the Hawaii Democrat distinguished himself from his Republican opponent by reminding viewers that his own blockade was for purely political appointments.

"There's a pretty important distinction between what Senator Tuberville did and what I'm doing. These are political appointees which are always or usually subject to a Senate vote. And so what i'm doing is slowing them down," Schatz said. "What Senator Tuberville did was prevent a one-star admiral from being a two-star admiral. These are career Department of Defense flag and general officers that were blocked. That is not the same as what I'm doing."

Schatz said his hold will continue for the foreseeable future, though he did note that he may relent if Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed to testify to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about his cuts to foreign aid.

Click here to read AL.com's full report.

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