Democrats fed up with Tuberville want to change Senate rules

Senate Democrats say they’re ready to take another look at rules reform to break through the blockade Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has put in place against more than 200 military promotions to protest the Pentagon’s abortion policy. 

Other Republican senators are jumping into the contentious battle over President Biden’s nominees, further fueling Democrats’ frustration.  

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) declared last week that he will put a hold on all nominees to the Justice Department.

Democrats say Tuberville is abusing the Senate rules by keeping his hold on Biden’s military promotions in place since February, and some lawmakers say they want to discuss changing the rules. 

“We need to talk about changing rules that Republicans have learned to exploit. We can’t continue in a world where one senator puts our entire national defense at risk because he doesn’t like one policy followed by the Department of Defense,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. She has repeatedly asked for unanimous consent to advance Biden’s nonpolitical military promotions only to be blocked by Tuberville.  

“Sen. Tuberville’s hold is just another indication of the madness that seems to have seized extremists in the Republican Party,” she said.  

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Warren’s frustration is shared throughout the Senate Democratic caucus.  

“I don’t think one person should be able to hold up the promotions and lives of everybody in the military or any other part of government,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. 

Asked whether Democrats would try to get around Tuberville by changing the rules, Stabenow said: “We’ll have to see.”  

“People are very, very frustrated. I think the rules change is very difficult, but this is irresponsible,” she said. “Now we’re talking about not filling key national security positions.” 

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) addresses reporters following the weekly policy luncheon on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.

Senate Democrats tried and failed to weaken the upper chamber’s filibuster rule in January 2022 to pass voting rights legislation.  

They fell short after centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) voted with the Republicans against creating an exception to the filibuster to pass voting rates legislation. 

Sinema, who was a Democrat at the time, sparked a backlash from progressives in Arizona and later changed her political affiliation to independent.  

Now, the political calculus in the Democratic caucus is different.

They added one more seat to their Democratic majority after the 2022 elections. And Sinema, who generally votes with Democrats, now faces a challenge from liberal Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), giving the Arizona maverick incentive to appeal to progressive-leaning Democratic voters at home.  

The topic of Senate rules reform has gotten little attention from Senate Democrats since last year’s effort to water down the filibuster. 

But some Democrats, furious over Tuberville’s obstruction, now want to revisit the subject. 

“I do think we need to look at reforming the rules. I’ve thought for a long time we should reform the rules, and this is Exhibit A of why we need to do that,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “It is hurting the country badly, and the Senate has the obligation to allow every member to have his or her say but not shut down the entire process.” 

“This is eating away at our national security, it’s putting our national security at risk and the longer it goes on, the more dangerous it can get,” he said. 

Asked what type of rules reform he would like to advance to respond to Tuberville, Van Hollen said they “should examine at all the options.” 

“You can look at very narrow changes to address this situation. You can also look at broader reforms to improve the process by which we consider nominees, generally. There have been a number of proposals that have been looked at over the years,” he said.  

Getting at least 50 members of the Democratic conference to settle on a specific change to the rules is not an easy task, and it raises the risk that Republicans might then change the rules in some way that Democrats wouldn’t like when control of the Senate flips.  

The Senate traditionally has approved the promotions of nonpolitical military personnel by unanimous consent to keep the careers of those service members separate from the political process.  

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) speaks to reporters near the Senate Chamber during a series of votes regarding nominations on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

Some Senate institutionalists in both parties fear that reforming the Senate rules to set up expedited votes on nonpolitical military promotions will effectively thrust the careers and decision-making of those officers into the political arena. 

A possible unintended consequence might be that career military officers would second-guess decisions about strategy and tactics on the basis of how those moves may be viewed politically, some Senate aides warn. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has indicated his preference is for Senate Republicans to figure out among themselves how to persuade Tuberville to back off his blanket hold on military promotions.  

Speaking on the Senate floor last month, Schumer cited a letter from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin detailing how Tuberville’s hold poses a “clear risk” to military readiness and directly impacts military families. 

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin addresses the media during a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, June 15, 2023. NATO defense ministers are holding two days of meetings to discuss their support for Ukraine and ways to boost the defenses of eastern flank allies near Russia. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Austin’s letter highlighted that the Senate would be required to act on hundreds of promotions over the next several months, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chief of staff of the Army, chief of staff of naval operations, and commandant of the Marine Corps.  

“I hope Senate Republicans read Secretary Austin’s letter, as well as the letter from the seven former Secretaries of Defense, and prevail on the Senator from Alabama to end this dangerous blockade and get our military operating to its full capacity,” Schumer urged his GOP colleagues.

McConnell told reporters last month he doesn’t support Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions but stopped short of calling on his colleague to stand down.  

“No, I don’t support putting a hold on military nominations,” he said. “I don’t support that. But as to why, you’ll have to ask Sen. Tuberville.” 

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) returns to his office after speaking on the Senate Floor on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

Democrats say McConnell needs to do more.  

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the chairwoman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and a member of McConnell’s leadership team, has introduced a bill to block the Defense Department’s abortion policy.  

Leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee offered to mark it up in committee along with the annual National Defense Authorization Act.  

But Tuberville said that didn’t go far enough to address his concerns and vowed to keep his hold in place. 

“Schumer’s not going to bring it to the floor, so it makes no difference,” Tuberville said of Ernst’s proposal. “Schumer’s not going to bring it to the floor, so I’m not going to drop holds, knowing it’s not going to make it out of this building.” 

This has some Democrats now looking at rules reform as the next step.  

“It’s a very substantial abuse of the system and the balance of powers between Congress and the executive branch,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)  

“I do understand that sometimes when you’re having trouble getting a document or something like that, holding up one person or something may be part of the dialogue,” he added. “But when you start essentially saying I’m going to paralyze the operations of the executive branch or some large swath [of government,] this goes beyond the dynamic that’s acceptable between the balance of powers,” he said. 

Merkley noted that the Senate must confirm 1,200 executive branch positions, which means holding votes on all of them is impossible without keeping senators at work around the clock. 

“Essentially what this has done is turn the Senate into a very slow-moving nomination confirmation factory, meaning there’s very little time for the important policy issues facing the nation,” he said. 

“I think we should have a discussion over a strategy to end this more extensive abuse,” he added.