Biden calls Tuberville hold on military nominations ‘bizarre’

LOS GATOS, Calif. — President Biden on Monday called Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) hold on military nominees over the Department of Defense’s abortion policy “bizarre.”

Biden, during a fundraiser in Los Gatos, Calif., called Tuberville a “former football coach from Alabama” and did not mention him by name.

“It’s bizarre, I don’t remember it happening before,” Biden said of Tuberville’s holds, which have held up more than 200 military promotions. “I know I don’t look like I’ve been around, but I’ve been around a long time.”

Tuberville had placed on the hold on nominees to protest the Pentagon’s policy that allows people to be reimbursed if they need to cross state lines to secure abortion services.

Earlier on Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuberville’s hold is “hurting our national security.”

“It is dangerous what is he, what he’s doing, and it is unacceptable,” she said. “We’ve been very, very clear about this. It is important to move forward with the president’s DoD nominations as they relate to our national security, as it relates to military safety, as it relates to what we need to make sure we’re providing for our military force.”

The president, speaking at the Monday fundraiser to a group of about 40, said he has more work to do on reproductive rights issues.

“The right to choose should be a right left between a woman and her doctor,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to pass a constitutional amendment but tell you what we can do. We can pass a national law taking Roe v. Wade and codifying it in every state.”