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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Mr. President, today, hundreds--hundreds--of military families across the country can breathe a sigh of relief. The Senate has now unanimously confirmed hundreds of military nominations that were held up for 10 months by a single person: the Senator from Alabama. Thank God, these military officers will now get the promotions they so rightfully earned.
I am happy that, after so much unnecessary delay by one Senator, we have finally moved forward and given these men and women the promotions they deserve. And we will work to confirm the rest of the nominees that were on hold very soon.
While today's confirmations are good news, these holds should never have happened in the first place. Unfortunately, resolving this impasse took too long, risking our national security and throwing the lives of so many military families into discombobulation. I am glad that pointless and gravely damaging ordeal has finally, finally ended.
Now, let this incident be a warning: No one--no one--should attempt this in the Senate again. The senior Senator from Alabama has nothing to show for his 10 months of delay--no law is changing in any way-- except for the damage he did to our military readiness and the pain he caused to military families. If every Senator did what Senator Tuberville tried to do and held up military confirmations because of this or that partisan issue, no matter how deeply felt, it would grind the Senate to a halt. It would be a catastrophe for our military. Holding up military nominations was an unsuccessful and risky strategy in this instance and should never, ever happen again.
I want to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who spoke out in defense of our military families. I want to thank, particularly, Senator Reed, the chair of the Armed Services Committee; Senator Klobuchar, the chair of the Rules Committee; and I really want to thank Senators Ernst and Sullivan for their courage in helping break the logjam after so, so many months. For all those who played a part in bringing this impasse to an end, thank you. Thank you. It took patience. It took resolve. But we have emerged on the right side of where we should be.
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