Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is pictured on the Capitol in Salt Lake Metropolis on Friday, April 14, 2023. Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Armed Providers Committee, talks to reporters on the Capitol in Washington, Might 16, 2023. J. Scott Applewhite, Related Press
The Home handed an $875 billion protection invoice Friday, however not earlier than including a number of amendments that will change Pentagon insurance policies, together with these associated to transgender points, range and abortion.
The Home handed the invoice on an nearly party-line 219-210 vote, with all however 4 Republicans voting for the invoice and all however 4 Democrats opposing it.
Utah’s 4 congressmen voted for the invoice, with Rep. Blake Moore, whose 1st Congressional District contains Hill Air Pressure Base, saying he was happy the invoice included cash for navy housing.
Rep. Burgess Owens, of the 2nd Congressional District, highlighted the 5.2% pay improve for service members, “the biggest increase in over 20 years.”
One of many amendments added to the invoice would block the Division of Protection from paying for service members to journey to obtain abortions, a coverage launched after the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade. The modification handed the chamber on a 221-213 vote.
The the navy paying for abortion-related journey has been contentious within the Senate, the place Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, has for a number of months blocked the affirmation of navy promotions over the coverage.
Tuberville’s blockade may gradual President Joe Biden’s alternative for the Joint Chiefs of Workers, the highest place within the navy, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a former F-16 pilot within the Air Pressure, who had his Senate affirmation listening to this week.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee inspired his fellow Republican senators to assist Tuberville’s actions within the Senate, which have to this point stored round 265 nominations from shifting ahead.
“Senate Republicans ought to assist — not criticize — @SenTuberville in his efforts to defend a regulation (10 USC 1093) prohibiting the usage of @DeptofDefense funds to carry out abortions,” he wrote on Twitter.
The federal regulation cited by Lee prohibits the Pentagon from paying for abortions, besides in circumstances the place the lifetime of the mom is in danger or the being pregnant resulted from rape or incest.
🧵1. Senate Republicans ought to assist—not criticize—@SenTuberville in his efforts to defend a regulation (10 USC 1093) prohibiting the usage of @DeptofDefense funds to carry out abortions. https://t.co/rF0Bx0cS8n
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 13, 2023
The Pentagon stated in February it could pay for service members to journey to obtain abortions in the event that they dwell in states the place entry to abortions is restricted.
Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken to Tuberville about how the delays are hurting the navy, division spokeswoman Sabrina Singh stated in a briefing this week. She stated the delays and vacancies may harm navy readiness.
Even with Tuberville’s blockade, senators may verify navy promotions one after the other, however to this point Democratic Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer has refused, saying it could take up invaluable ground time, and Biden has stated it’s Republicans’ drawback to repair.
However Lee says Tuberville is doing the proper factor.
Secretary Austin “may finish this standoff TODAY just by halting his indefensible abortion coverage, the only real function of which is to avoid federal regulation,” Lee stated.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Armed Providers Committee, talks to reporters on the Capitol in Washington, Might 16, 2023.
J. Scott Applewhite, Related Press
The struggle over the coverage within the Senate portends a bigger battle coming within the subsequent few weeks over the protection spending invoice, which incorporates not only a reversal of the abortion journey coverage, but in addition a number of different provisions that would gradual negotiations on the invoice between the Home and Senate.
However Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy stated Republicans need the navy to “cease utilizing taxpayer cash do their very own wokeism.”
“We don’t need Disneyland to coach our navy,” he stated. “We would like our women and men within the navy to have each protection potential, and that’s what our invoice does.”
Different amendments added to the invoice embody:
- Prohibiting Protection Division Ok-12 colleges from shopping for or storing books containing pornography or “radical gender ideology” content material, on a 222-209 vote.
- Eliminating range, fairness and inclusion places of work and personnel inside the Armed Forces and Division of Protection, on a 214-213 vote.
- Prohibiting the show of “unapproved” flags, on a 218-213 vote.
- A requirement for the Division of Protection to check the consequences of the COVID-19 vaccine on service members, handed by a voice vote.
- Prohibiting the Pentagon from requiring DEI coaching as a situation of hiring, promotion or retention, on a 214-210 vote.
- Eliminating funds for educating in Protection Division Ok-12 colleges on race essentialism, or that the U.S. and its founding paperwork are racist, on a 227-201 vote.
- Prohibiting the Pentagon for paying for navy personnel or their members of the family to have gender transition surgical procedure or hormone remedies, on a 222-210 vote.
After the Senate passes its personal model of the invoice, which Schumer says they’re working towards, the 2 chambers should negotiate over a last model of the invoice.