Veterans Get Outside Day
Floor Speech
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Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Rhode Island for his leadership. He has worked hard to make sure that the Senate Armed Services Committee works in a bipartisan manner to keep our country safe. His steadfast approach has rightfully earned him respect from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I appreciate his being here tonight on this issue.
Mr. President, several weeks ago, I came down to the Senate floor to ask the Senator from Alabama to reconsider his unprecedented action of blocking hundreds of promotions earned by our men and women in uniform. He refused, so I am here to ask again.
As I said the last time I spoke about this, most people are aware that the Senate votes on nominees appointed by the President to occupy top roles in government--Cabinet Secretaries, judges, Ambassadors. Less well known is the fact that the Senate must also vote to approve thousands of military promotions each year. If a colonel has done really well on the job and their services promotion board decides that they are ready to be a brigadier general, the Senate must vote to approve this promotion before it can go through.
Typically, this vote is a formality. These promotions are processed in big batches rather than one at a time, and they nearly always happen without taking a recorded vote. But right now, the Senator from Alabama all by himself is blocking every single senior military nomination and promotion from moving forward. This means that one Senator is personally standing in the way of the promotions for 221 of our top- level military leaders, holding up pay raises for 221 men and women in uniform, blocking 221 senior military leaders from taking their posts, and jeopardizing America's national security.
In April, I sent a letter to Defense Secretary Austin asking about the impact of holding up these military promotions. Secretary Austin didn't pull any punches. He said:
The longer that this hold persists, the greater the risk the U.S. military runs in every theater, every domain, and every service.
He went on to point out that these unprecedented and unnecessary holds are creating ``rising disquiet from our allies and partners at a moment when our competitors and adversaries are watching.''
There is bipartisan opposition to the Senator from Alabama's actions. Thanks to Chairman Reed, seven former Defense Secretaries, including ones who served under President Trump and President George W. Bush, sent a letter stating that leaving senior positions ``in doubt at a time of enormous geopolitical uncertainty sends the wrong message to our adversaries and could weaken our deterrence.''
The Senator from Alabama hurts Active-Duty military. He also hurts their families. In this letter describing the consequences of the Senator from Alabama's hold, Secretary Austin noted that it places an ``unconscionable burden on families that are already making significant sacrifices.''
There are mounting worries that the negative impacts on military families is threatening our military's ability to retain leaders who have completed thorough, months-long reviews to earn those promotions.
At a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the Secretary of the Air Force said:
One of the things that motivates our people in terms of retention . . . is how they feel that their families are being treated.
He said that he also knows that these families do not want to be treated liked the Senator from Alabama's political football.
The Senator from Alabama is punishing 221 dedicated men and women who serve in our military because he disagrees with one of the Pentagon's policy decisions. He is opposed to a Department of Defense policy established to help members of the military and their families access healthcare--specifically, reproductive healthcare.
I strongly support this particular policy, but it is no secret that I disagree with a lot of other policy positions at the Pentagon. And, as I reminded the Senator from Alabama the last time we had this discussion on the Senate floor, as Senators, we have many tools we can use to shape and influence government policy without putting our national defense at risk.
We can pass laws; we can conduct oversight; we can meet with administration officials; we can hold hearings. From time to time, Senators object to an individual nomination, usually to express opposition either to the nominee or to ensure that the Senator gets answers from a Federal Agency. I have done this in the past as have many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
That is not the approach the Senator from Alabama has taken. Instead, he is blocking every single top military leader from advancing indefinitely. The last time I came to the floor, he was holding up 184 nominees. Now he has snared 221 top-level servicemembers who are currently slated for advancement. He has stopped every one of them dead in their tracks.
The Senator from Alabama is singlehandedly holding up three 4-star commanders, 35 3-star commanders, multiple Silver Star and Purple Heart recipients, the next commander of our Fifth Fleet in the Middle East, the next commander of the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific, the Navy's air and surface warfare commanders; and as a preview of coming events, the Senator from Alabama has already promised to block the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Senator from Alabama has already held some of these nominees for as long as 3 months. That is 3 months that they won't have time in their next roles. That is 3 months that they won't get a pay bump, and there is no retroactive pay here. That is 3 months that they don't get the experience and the responsibilities of their new duty stations. That is 3 months, and there is no end in sight.
How many blows to their military careers and to their families do these men and women have to suffer before some of them simply walk away?
This isn't right.
The Senator from Alabama has not raised any objections to the process by which these men and women were vetted and nominated. Each of these nominees has undergone a thorough review, first by their military service and then by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Months after those reviews, their nominations were sent to the White House for additional scrutiny and then to Congress to officially authorize the promotions.
These are our military's best leaders, and they have proven themselves to the highest degree. As a reward for their service and their exemplary dedication, the Senator from Alabama holds them hostage, with no concern for what it means to their careers, to the servicemembers depending on them for leadership, or to their families.
The Senator from Alabama's actions are not just the usual back-and- forth in Washington. His holds pose a grave threat to our national security and our military readiness. They actively hurt our ability to respond quickly to threats around the world. That is not my conclusion; that is the conclusion of the Secretary of Defense.
When I tried to move these nominations forward the last time, I said I was concerned about how the actions of the Senator from Alabama were undermining military readiness. The Senator responded that he knew that I had sent a letter to Secretary Austin to ask him about the impact of the holds on military readiness but that the Secretary had not yet responded. The Senator said the last time we were on the floor here together that he would consider Secretary Austin's concerns. In fact, he said that he ``can't wait to read it,'' but he would not budge in the meantime.
So I am here this evening to place into the Record Secretary Austin's reply. In his letter, the Secretary makes his concerns clear. He explains how the actions of the Senator from Alabama pose a grave threat to national security by harming military readiness. The Secretary also explains how the Senator from Alabama harms military families.
I sincerely hope that the unvarnished assessment of our Secretary of Defense will be enough to move the Senator from Alabama to lift his holds and let these nominations go forward.
Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Warren: Thank you for your letter requesting a full accounting of the impact on our national security and the risks to our military readiness resulting from Senator Tuberville's indefinite hold on the confirmation of our general and flag officers.
I appreciate and share your deep concern over this hold, which is unprecedented in its scale and scope. Delays in confirming our general and flag officers pose a clear risk to U.S. military readiness, especially at this critical time.
The Department of Defense has 64 three- and four-star nominations pending for positions due to rotate within the next 120 days. These include the Chief of Staff of the Army; the Chief of Naval Operations; the Commandant and Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps; the Director of the National Security Agency and Commander of United States Cyber Command; and the Commander of United States Northern Command.
Additionally, several one- and two-star nominations are now on indefinite hold for general officers and flag officers slated to take command or support critical positions across the Joint Force. Within the next nine months, approximately 80 three- and four-star rotations are projected across the Department. Those positions include the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force. In total, between now and the end of the year, the Department projects that approximately 650 general and flag officers will require Senate confirmation.
This indefinite hold harms America's national security and hinders the Pentagon's normal operations. The United States military relies on the deep experience and strategic expertise of our senior military leaders. The longer that this hold persists, the greater the risk the U.S. military runs in every theater, every domain, and every Service. Mission Vacancies
The tenure of Service Chiefs is limited by law, and thus, incumbents must vacate their positions at the appointed time and may only be extended under extraordinary circumstances. Collectively, these positions oversee more than 1.2 million active and reserve component Service members and provide Service personnel and resources to the commanders of the unified combatant commands. By law, Service Chiefs preside over the capabilities, requirements, policies, and plans of their Services and serve as the principal military advisors to the Secretaries of the Military Departments. Put simply, our Service Chiefs train and equip the Joint Force. Without these leaders in place, the U.S. military will incur an unnecessary and unprecedented degree of risk at a moment when our adversaries may seek to test our resolve.
The hold causes especially acute, self-inflicted problems in new domains of potential conflict. The Director of the National Security Agency and Commander of United States Cyber Command, is responsible for supporting every combatant commander and Service member around the globe--including troops in hostile or hazardous areas--with actionable signals intelligence and cybersecurity support. The Director also ensures that military communications and data remain secure and out of the hands of our adversaries, safeguarding our advanced command, control, communications, computer intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities against the People's Republic of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, ISIS, and more. Failing to fill this position weakens the cybersecurity of the United States.
Furthermore, delays in confirming a large number of one- and two-star general and flag officers jeopardizes our current and future readiness. The Department relies on these experienced leaders to execute tactical actions every day and extend our strategic advantages for the long term. General and flag officers at this level are responsible for executing strategy, acquiring new technologies, enhancing tactical effectiveness, conducting joint training, and strengthening global alliances. These general and flag officers also provide direct leadership and mentorship to thousands of enlisted Service members and junior and field grade officers across the Department. Their importance cannot be overstated. Power Projection Abroad
General and flag officers provide oversight of the Department's military and civilian staffs, help decide how we employ our forces, and take care of the Service members, civilians, and families in their organizations. Delays in confirmation will soon foist vacancies on the most senior military positions across each of the Services, imposing new and unnecessary risks on U.S. warfighters across multiple theaters of operations.
The hold also makes it harder for the United States to fulfil its global leadership responsibilities, including to our treaty allies and our valued partners around the world. Our smoothly running normal processes and predictable military transitions have long set helpful expectations among allies and partners. Now, however, this hold has created unnecessary uncertainty. That diminishes our global standing as the strongest military in the world, which is in large part based on our stable processes and orderly transitions.
General and flag officers have the authority to make decisions and commit resources, develop key policies, work with our allies and partners, and confront our rivals and foes. The full impact of this hold may not be immediately noticeable because of the resilience built into our military organizations, but over time, the hold will cause cascading impacts to our readiness and needlessly hinder our ability to meet our strategic objectives in the Inda-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.
The absence of experienced and Senate-confirmed senior leadership limits our ability to deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners through multilateral training and cooperative engagements. Recent exercises, such as Balikatan 2023 with the Armed Forces of the Philippines or joint U.S.- Israeli naval activity in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, may become even more difficult if delays in confirmation force other leaders to take on the responsibilities of officers held up by the Senate. This hold could force senior leaders to become dual-hatted, which would force them to juggle competing priorities and sap their ability to excel. Knowledge and Expertise
Our general and flag officers cultivate their expertise and experience over decades of service. Military units need leaders, and our Service members deserve to be led by fully confirmed general and flag officers. The failure to confirm leaders in key roles transfers strategic risk down the chain of command and forces our units to operate with less experienced decision makers in charge. By destabilizing the senior military promotion and rotation process, we put our short- and long-term readiness at significant risk.
Failure to fill these positions in a timely manner is simply irresponsible. We owe it to our Service members to provide them with the best leadership possible, and the current hold jeopardizes the continuity and effective transition of leadership. Service Members and Families
This hold disrupts not only our most senior military leaders but their families as well. Service members and military families are resilient, but the current hold adds another layer of stress and unnecessary uncertainty.
The damage here includes not just the disruption to our most senior officers, but also profound confusion and disturbance to our rising one- and two-star general and flag officers and their families. Extended holds increase the time from selection to promotion, which could further delay promotion timelines by 12 to 24 months. This impedes not only the current cadre of officers but those in the groups behind them as well.
General officer and flag officer end strength is tightly controlled by statute. Promotion of one cadre of officers is possible only with the retirement of others. Long-term holds have a corrosive and cascading effect: they prevent our rising officers and their families from being able to predict promotion and rotation windows, which can increase the pressure to leave the military in favor of greater stability. The more our normal promotion processes are jolted, the more we risk the loss of the diverse warfighting and technical expertise that America needs to confront its 21st-century security challenges.
The current hold also means delaying or canceling permanent change of station moves--not only for those now nominated and on hold but also for numerous officers and their families who must be extended on station to prevent critical gaps. Military children will be unable to move to new schools when the next school year begins, which imposes needless additional stress on those students and their families. Military families enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program may endure serious delays or be unable to access the services and support that they need and deserve when they transition to their new duty stations. And outstanding military spouses may not be able to accept or start new jobs because they cannot predict when they could start. The families of our general and flag officers serve right alongside their Service members. The current hold imposes additional burdens upon our military families that are both unnecessary and unconscionable. A Perilous Precedent
As such, the Department urges the Senate to resolve the current situation as swiftly as possible to limit these serious consequences. Never before has one Senator prevented the Department of Defense from managing its officer corps in this manner, and letting this hold continue would set a perilous precedent for our military, our security, and our country.
The ripple effects of this unprecedented and unnecessary hold are increasingly troubling. Ultimately, the breakdown of the normal flow of leadership across the Department's carefully cultivated promotion and transition system will breed uncertainty and confusion across the U.S. military. This protracted hold means uncertainty for our Service members and their families and rising disquiet from our allies and partners, at a moment when our competitors and adversaries are watching.
As public servants and officials sworn to protect and defend our Constitution, I hope that we can all acknowledge the national security risks posed by these needless delays and come together to safeguard the lethality and readiness of the most powerful fighting force in human history.
Thank you for your continued strong support for our Service members and our national security. I again urge swift action to confirm all U.S. general and flag officers. Sincerely, Lloyd J. Austin, III.
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Ms. WARREN. I am here today to ask my colleague from Alabama to let these promotions move forward and to find other ways to continue advocating for the policy changes that he wants to see. I am hopeful that he will do the right thing and allow these servicemembers to carry out their responsibilities to our country.
In a moment, I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 204. This nominee is a native of Pittsfield, MA. If confirmed, he would be the Navy's next sub boss, making him the most senior operational submariner in the Navy. The Submarine Force is integral to deterring our enemies and keeping America safe.
204; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
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Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, let's be clear what is at issue here.
Servicemembers and their families don't get to decide where they serve. The policy that is at issue here allows servicemembers who need reproductive healthcare to request time to travel to receive the treatment that they need. The treatment could be an abortion, but it also could be IVF. It also could be helping a servicemember or a family member receive treatment after a miscarriage. Commanders respect a servicemember's privacy, and they don't want to be required to ask why the servicemember is taking leave. Now, I understand that the Senator from Alabama doesn't like that. He doesn't think that the Department should be facilitating certain types of reproductive healthcare in any way.
The administration--let us be clear--is not breaking the law. Chairman Reed has already gone through all of the legal precedent and the legal opinion that states that what the Department of Defense is doing is absolutely within its purview. The Department of Defense is following the law. I understand that the law could be changed, and the Senator from Alabama can advocate for the bill that he cosponsors that would ban the Department from providing paid leave or transportation to access legal reproductive care.
I think that such a policy would have a terrible impact on the privacy of our servicemembers and their families who would have to tell their commanding officers intimate details of their medical situations in order to get the time they need to seek care for things like IVF or a miscarriage. It could prevent servicemembers or their families from accessing important, legal care that would require them to travel or to take time away from work.
It would also have negative impacts on our commanders officers, who would spend less time training against our national security threats and more time asking invasive questions about their employees' health conditions or those of the employees' families.
Even so, the Senator from Alabama is free to advocate for this policy. As I have said before, the Senator does not have the votes in Congress for a bill like that. I think the Senator from Alabama knows that, which is why he has taken this radical step of opposing the swift passage of every high-level military nomination pending before the Senate.
This approach is dangerous. Many of us are frustrated by executive branch policies and actions, but that frustration is not an excuse to endanger our national security and to deprive servicemembers of the leaders they need.
The Senator from Alabama and I fundamentally disagree on the issue of abortion and on the DOD's policies, but we should all be able to agree that a blockade of the promotion of every senior member of our Nation's military creates unacceptable risks to our national security.
In a moment, I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 192. If confirmed, this nominee would be the first female Superintendent for the Naval Academy. Of course, she is no stranger to breaking down barriers. She was also the first Hispanic woman to command a Navy warship. We are in the middle of a recruiting crisis. She is precisely the kind of leader we need to inspire our next generation to serve.
I yield to the Senator from Rhode Island. Then I will make my motion.
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Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Reed for underscoring the point that the Department of Defense is not breaking the law. There is legal precedence for what the Department is doing, and it has been reviewed by the Department of Justice that the Department of Defense is fully in accord with current law.
With that, I would like to go back to the nominee who would be the first female Superintendent of the Naval Academy. Mr. President, I renew my request with respect to Calendar No. 192.
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Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, the Senator from Alabama earlier claimed that the Department of Defense's policy violates the law. The Senator from Utah then made a slight shift in how he described his complaint with the Department of Defense policy. He said it violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the law, and therein lies the difference.
The law that we are talking about here is the Hyde amendment, and that is a congressional prohibition on the Federal government paying for abortions.
Let's be clear about the Department of Defense policy. Servicemembers remain personally responsible for bearing the medical cost of abortion, just like they did before the Dobbs opinion, just like they did the year before that and the year before that and the year before that, and all the way back to when the Hyde amendment was passed.
Instead, what DOD policy does is it clarifies that servicemembers who need to travel out of State to access any kind of reproductive healthcare that is not available where they are stationed can request the time off to go get that care for themselves or a family member. That is it.
That is what people in the Peace Corps can do. That is what people in Federal prisons can do. And that is what our servicemembers can do. That is not a violation of the explicit language in the Hyde amendment.
And to stand up and claim that somehow what the Department of Defense has done is violate the law is simply not to read the law. The law is clear, and the Department of Defense continues to follow it.
But there are real consequences to this argument. I understand that there are Members of the Republican Party, Members of the Senate, who would like to change that policy. They would like the Department of Defense to follow a different policy. They can try to change the law. They can introduce an amendment. In fact, they already have introduced an amendment. But, in the meantime, they cannot hold hostage the promotions of our top military leaders. This jeopardizes our national defense.
Secretary Austin's letter that I earlier entered into the Record goes into great detail about how these holds that the Senator from Alabama has put on our top military leaders create mission vacancies that ``incur an unnecessary and unprecedented degree of risk at a moment when our adversaries may seek to test our resolve.''
He goes on to explain that the holds undermine power projection abroad, which, ``diminishes our global standing as the strongest military in the world, which is in large part based on our stable processes and orderly transitions''--precisely what the Senator from Alabama is holding up.
The risks are even greater in new domains of potential conflict, and Secretary Austin does not mince words on who benefits.
Who benefits? Our Secretary of Defense identifies them: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and ISIS. The leaders whose nominations currently stand in purgatory are responsible, according to Secretary Austin, for ``executing strategy, acquiring new technologies, enhancing tactical effectiveness, conducting joint training, and strengthening global alliances.''
This isn't rhetoric. These are specific examples of U.S. national security interests that are endangered by these reckless holds.
I understand that the Senator from Alabama may not be persuaded by Secretary Austin's letter, but we have to face reality here. While we argue over the fact that the Republicans want to change current law under the Hyde amendment, we are endangering our national defense.
We need to move forward on the nominations that have already been approved by the servicemembers, by the White House, by our own committee. In the Senate Armed Services Committee, we need a vote so that these people can move to their next posts and do their jobs.
In a moment, I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 199. If confirmed, this nominee would be Deputy Commander for Air Force Materiel Command, which employs nearly 86,000 military and civilian airmen and manages a $71.3 billion budget.
She is also a mama. She calls her kids the ``Three Musketeers'' and says they are the center of her universe.
These holds are the hardest on military families who are trying to figure out how to sign up for new schools, trying to establish their lives in their next deployment.
This nominee has already moved 17 times during her career, and she is now held by the Senator from Alabama, cannot move to her next deployment, cannot establish herself and her ``Three Musketeers'' and get them settled in school, and get her family in the place where they will be so that she can do her job for the American people.
We need people with decades of logistics management experience, and we need to treat them with some respect.
I renew my request with respect to Calendar No. 199.
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Ms. WARREN. Madam President, the Department of Defense has adopted a healthcare policy that is both legal and necessary to protect the readiness of our forces. It also protects our national defense. These policies were also reviewed by the Department of Justice.
The prohibition to which my colleagues refer is the prohibition in the Hyde amendment of using Federal dollars to pay for abortions. Let me say this as clearly as I can. Under the Department of Defense's policy, servicemembers remain personally responsible for bearing the medical cost of abortion. That is true today; it was true last week; it was true the day after the Dobbs opinion; it was true the day before the Dobbs opinion; and for years, that has been the policy.
What has changed is that the DOD has clarified that servicemembers who need to travel out of State to access any kind of reproductive healthcare that is not available where they are stationed and what kind of healthcare might not be available--it might be abortion care; it might be IVF; it might be care for someone who has suffered a miscarriage--that any person who has suffered that personally or someone in their family can request time off to go get that care for themselves or for a family member. That is it. That is all we are talking about here.
Servicemembers do not get to decide where to serve. I am proud to support the DOD in saying that a change in station should not mean a change in your basic rights.
I appreciate that my colleagues have strong views on abortion. So do I. We are not going to agree on that. But all of us should be able to agree that we should not take steps that harm the people who volunteered to serve in our military; that if they need care that they cannot get in the State where they are, they should have an opportunity to go somewhere else. That is it.
There is no prohibition in law. There is no Hyde amendment violation here. Instead, what we have is wholesale holding up the nominations of more than 200 of our top military leaders who cannot advance to the posts that they have been thoroughly vetted and are ready to be promoted into, cannot advance to their duty stations, cannot settle their families in their next assignments, cannot receive the increase in their pay that they are entitled to.
So, in a moment, I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 90. This is the person who would be America's military representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization but is currently being held up by the Senator from Alabama.
I will be asking for the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 94. Collectively, these are 37 nominees who have served in the Army for nearly 1,000 years.
I will be asking for the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 84. This nominee would command the Fifth Fleet, which operates in the Middle East.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 49. This is the man who is the Chief of Staff for Operation Warp Speed--one of the greatest achievements of the Trump administration--to rapidly develop tests and distribute lifesaving COVID vaccines.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 82. These 27 Air Force nominees have collectively served their country for more 600 years. One of them, in fact, is a NASA astronaut who received his master's degree from MIT and commanded NASA's third longest duration commercial crew mission.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 47. This nominee would be Commanding General for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and U.S. Army Forces Strategic Command.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 97. Collectively, these 16 nominees have served in the Navy for more than 400 years.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 46. This nominee studied at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and currently serves as Commander of the 10th Medical Group and Command Surgeon for the U.S. Air Force Academy.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 83. This nominee studied at the Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and she is now capable and ready to serve as the Chief of Staff for Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 48. She would serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Army's G-4, which is responsible for the Army's strategy policy plans and programming for logistics sustainment.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 50. Collectively, these two women have served in the Army for over 60 years. They deserve to be promoted.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 51. This man would serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration for the Air Force.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 52. This nominee would be the Military Deputy and Director for the Army Acquisition Corps.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 86. Collectively, these 11 nominees have over 275 years of service in the Air Force.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 87. These two nominees have served the Air Force for over 55 years.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 88. These 10 nominees have served over 288 years. Together, they have nearly 20,000 flying hours of experience.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 89. This nominee is currently commanding the largest Army command in the Caribbean.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 91. This nominee is currently serving in Birmingham, AL, as Chief of Staff to the U.S. Army Reserve Deployment Support Command.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 92. This nominee is currently the Director for Joint Reserve Intelligence Support Element for Europe and Eurasia for the Defense Intelligence Agency, helping to make sure that Ukraine and our allies in Europe have the critical national security information they need so that they can compete on the battlefield.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 93. This nominee is currently the Deputy Commander for Support, providing security assistance to Ukraine.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 95. Collectively, these eight nominees have served in the Marine Corps for over 200 years. They deserve their promotions.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 96. These nominees have served in the Navy for over 55 years. Both are currently serving in the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, making them responsible for the health and safety of our sailors, marines, and their families.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 98. Collectively, these two nominees have served in the Navy for 55 years. I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 99. These two have collectively served in the Navy for over 60 years, managing major weapons systems programs.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 100. This nominee is currently serving as the Director of Health and Training at the Defense Health Agency, and he is recognized as a Diplomate of the American Board of General Dentistry.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 101. This nominee will be the Commander of Naval Supply Systems Command, which makes sure the Navy has everything they need all around the world.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 102. These 13 nominees collectively served in the Navy for over 400 years.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 103. This nominee is currently serving as the Executive Assistant for the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. We need people like this.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 104. These two nominees have collectively served the Navy for over 55 years, one currently serving as Information Warfare Commander.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 105. These four nominees have collectively served the Navy for over 100 years.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 106. These two nominees have served the Air Force for over 65 years. One of these nominees earned her nursing degree at Boston College and rose to become the chief nurse of the entire Air Force. She deserves her promotion.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 107, currently serving as the Commanding General for the Marine Corps forces in Japan.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 110. Collectively, these 23 nominees have over 620 years of service to the Air Force.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 111. This nominee would be the Deputy Commandant for Aviation for the Marine Corps, who advises the Marine Corps top officer of all aviation matters.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 205. This nominee would be the Commander of the 2nd Fleet and Joint Forces Command Norfolk--the only operational NATO command in North America, responsible for the North Atlantic and the Arctic. We need capable leaders like this.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 203. This pilot has flown more than 3,000 hours in the F-16 and the F-35. We need capable people like this.
In a moment, I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 202. This nominee will be the Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 201. This nominee is an experienced information warfare officer. We need him in his post.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 200. This nominee is someone you can count on in a crisis. A native of San Juan, he was there to help his fellow Puerto Ricans after the earthquakes forced 7,500 people to leave their homes. He has stepped up and stepped up again for people who need him.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 198. This nominee will be the Commander of Air Combat Command, which is the primary provider of air combat forces to U.S. war-fighting commands all around the world.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 197. This nominee would be the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for War-Fighting Requirements and Capabilities.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 196. He will be the Deputy Commander for U.S. Central Command.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 195. He has logged more than 500 carrier-assisted landings and 2,800 flight hours in tactical aircraft. We need him.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 194. This nominee from Falmouth, MA, if confirmed, will be the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, which is responsible for training and providing combat-ready Navy forces wherever combatant commanders need them, and we need him.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 193. This nominee will be the Commander of Naval Surface Forces and Commander of Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, where his mission will be to make sure the Navy has every capability we need for a force that is balanced, affordable, and resilient.
I will be asking the Senate to consider Calendar No. 191. This nominee will be the Commanding General for the Marine Expeditionary Force in U.S. Marine Corps Forces Japan.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 190. This nominee will be Deputy Commanding General for Futures and Concepts at Army Futures Command.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 188. This nominee will be Commander of Pacific Air Forces, which integrates airspace and cyber space capabilities to keep the Indo-Pacific open and free. He has flown more than 4,000 flight hours and previously served as the Commander for U.S. Forces in Japan.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 189. As a leader, she sees that our power as a nation comes from our moral strength and standing up for what we know as right. This nominee would be Pacific Air Forces Deputy Commander, making her the No. 2 for the nominee I just spoke about.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 187. If confirmed, this nominee would be Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces Korea and the Commander of the 7th Air Force.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 186. This nominee will be Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Force Futures, which is charged with representing the voice of tomorrow's airmen to be ready to defeat any future threats and capabilities our enemies wield. We need this person.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 185. If confirmed, this nominee would be Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, making him the primary military adviser for everything the Air Force buys to keep us safe.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 184. This nominee took his first flight at 2 weeks old and became a command pilot with more than 2,500 flying hours.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar Nos. 182 and 183. This nominee will be the next Navy Surgeon General, making him the principal adviser to the Secretary of the Navy on medical matters.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 181. During his service, he has accumulated over 5,000 flight hours and over 1,100 carrier-assisted landings. He was a Top Gun instructor and later the Commander for the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center. He is entitled to his promotion.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 180. This nominee is also a Top Gun graduate, completing eight carrier deployments in the Western, Pacific, North Atlantic, Mediterranean, and North Arabian Seas.
I will be asking the Senate to confirm Calendar No. 112. He would be the Director of the Defense Contract Management Agency, which manages 225,000 contracts valued at more than $3\1/2\ trillion and 15,000 contractor locations worldwide.
I don't know what to say except that we have more than 200 people here who have dedicated their lives to the United States. They have volunteered for military service. They are all career. They are in it all the way. They are capable. They are talented. They serve our country. And right now, they have become the political football for the Senator from Alabama, and that is wrong.
These people deserve their promotions. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect for the work they have put in for our Nation. It is the least we can do for them, for their families, and for the national security of the United States of America.
We need these people. We don't need to tell them we don't care about them. We need them. We need to retain them. We need to promote them. We need to use their talents.
Madam President, I renew my request with respect to each of the calendar numbers I have identified.
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Ms. WARREN. I will yield to the Senator from Utah.
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Ms. WARREN. Madam President, the Senator from Utah and the Senator from Alabama have repeatedly said that the Department of Defense is somehow violating the law.
Let's pull the statute out and just take a look at it. I want to read the words into the Record.
Under part (a) Restriction on Use of Funds:
Funds available to the Department of Defense may not be used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.
Period. That is it. It does not say that funds from the Department of Defense may not be used for travel. It does not say that people may not have time off. It does not say that people may not be allowed to travel out of State. It has exactly one thing that it prohibits Federal funds from being used, and that is ``may not be used to perform abortions.''
Let me say again as clearly as I know how: The Department of Defense's rule clearly states that the servicemember will pay for her own medical services. It will not be the case that the Department of Defense will pay for abortion.
If the Senator from Utah wants to change that law, he certainly can introduce an amendment to do that. The same with the Senator from Alabama. But right now, the Department of Defense is following the law in the United States.
The Senator from Alabama's actions pose a grave threat to our national security and readiness. That is not just my view. It is the view of the Secretary of Defense and the former Secretaries of Defense serving in both Democratic and Republican administrations.
If the Senator from Alabama stays on this path, his actions will soon endanger the nomination of the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, an action we have never seen in the history of our Nation. We have 221 good people who have earned their promotions, who are ready to go to their next duty stations and serve their nation. They are being treated with disrespect; and this action is undermining our national defense.
I urge the Senator from Alabama to release his holds immediately and allow these senior military officers to receive the promotions that they have earned.
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