Sen. Tommy Tuberville
Opinion: She volunteered her services to mediate between the Defense department and a senator holding up military promotions over abortion issues.
EJ Montini
Arizona Republic
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is good at politics.
She makes friends. She’s proficient at banter. She’s adaptable. She’s an expert in reciprocity. You give me this; I’ll vote for that.
So, last week, Sinema volunteered her services to end a dispute between the Department of Defense and Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is holding up hundreds of military promotions while demanding that the Pentagon change its policy of granting leave and travel expenses for military personnel who cannot obtain an abortion in the state where they are stationed.
Tuberville’s hold has left the Marine Corps without a commandant for the first time since the Civil War.
Hundreds of other promotions are in limbo.
Tuberville is hurting national security
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, said of Tuberville’s shakedown, “This blockade of military promotions is doing real damage to our national security right now. It’s doing great harm to military families and it’s going to have cascading effects for years … I don’t think the senator from Alabama gets it.”
I think he does, actually.
The U.S. Senate has rules (not laws) that give individual senators inordinate power.
Sinema knows all about that. Like I said, she’s good at politics.
