The Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army stepped down from his position today, leaving a second military branch in the country without leadership, as a Republican senator opposed to abortion continues to stall a series of appointments in protest against the Pentagon's policy to assist service members seeking abortion services. More than 300 nominations, including those for generals chosen to lead the Army and Marine Corps, are awaiting Senate approval. This number continues to rise.
Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican opposed to the Pentagon's policy of providing financial assistance to service members seeking abortions, is obstructing these appointments. Appointments at the highest levels of the U.S. Armed Forces require a vote by the entire Senate, but they must first be approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee to be brought to a vote. Senator Tuberville is using his membership on the Armed Services Committee to block these appointments. The Senate could circumvent this blockage by voting on each of these appointments individually rather than as a package, as the Pentagon prefers.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated during a ceremony marking the end of General James McConville's tenure as Chief of Staff, "Unfortunately, today for the first time in the history of the Department of Defense, two of our services will operate without leadership approved by the Senate.” Austin warned that “the failure to confirm our highly qualified senior leaders in uniform undermines our military readiness. It jeopardizes our ability to retain some of our best officers and disrupts the lives of many of their spouses, children, and loved ones."
General Randy George, the current Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, has been nominated to replace McConville and will currently perform these duties in addition to his current role. In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion that had existed for decades across the country, meaning that service members in areas where the procedure is banned must take leave and travel to regions where such healthcare services are permitted.
In response, Austin instructed the Department of Defense to develop policies allowing service members to take leave for "reproductive healthcare," including travel and transportation allowances to help cover the costs. According to Tuberville, the senator from deeply conservative Alabama, this is against the law. He has pledged to block the appointments of senior officers and civilian officials at the Department of Defense until the procedure is reversed.
On July 10, the commander of the U.S. Marine Corps left his position at the end of his term without a successor. Temporarily, the general nominated to succeed him has been serving as his deputy and Marine Corps leader for nearly a month. The situation is likely to worsen with the impending departures of two other senior officers, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.
