President Biden late Monday said Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military appointments over the Department of Defense’s abortion policy is unprecedented and “bizarre.”
Mr. Biden, speaking to political donors in California, did not mention Mr. Tuberville by name but said “a former football coach from Alabama” was holding up military nominees.
Mr. Tuberville, Alabama Republican, has been blocking hundreds of nominees to senior military jobs since March in protest of a policy that reimburses service members who travel to get an abortion in a state with fewer restrictions.
The senator says the policy is a violation of the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal dollars for abortion services.
“It’s just bizarre. I don’t remember it happening before,” Mr. Biden said in Los Gatos, California. “And I’ve been around. I know I don’t look like I’ve been around, but I’ve been around. I’ve been around a long time.”
The White House and Democratic allies are criticizing Mr. Tuberville’s stance as a threat to national security.
“We have been very clear that we need to move forward with these nominations, these critical nominations,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier Monday. “It is dangerous what he’s doing, and it is unacceptable.”
During his fundraiser, Mr. Biden also defended the broad right to abortion that was overturned by the Supreme Court last year, opening the door to state-based limits.
“The right to choose should be a right [that is] left between a woman and her doctor,” he said.
