McConnell opposes Alabama Republican’s blockade of military nominees over Pentagon abortion policy
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that he won’t support a fellow GOP senator’s blockade of military nominees, backing Democrats and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who have said that the holdup is harming national security. “No, I don’t support putting a hold on military nominations,” McConnell told reporters, in response to a question about Tuberville’s blockade. The glut of vacancies would break down the department’s normal flow of leadership and breed uncertainty and confusion, he said, risking operations in “every theater, every domain, and every service.” At a hearing earlier this year, Austin defended the abortion policy by saying that tens of thousands of women in the military live and work in locations that don’t have regular reproductive health care. “Secretary Austin thought abortion is more important than his highest-level military nominations,” he said late last month, after Democrats tried to call up the nominations on the Senate floor.