Tuberville's holds started back in February over the U.S. Department of Defense's reproductive care policies enacted after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Top military and national security officials have been sounding the alarm on the impact on military readiness and lawmakers of both parties have expressed concerns.
"I respectfully urge you to schedule a hearing as soon as possible to examine the urgent national security threats resulting from Senator Tuberville's decision to stall military nominations," Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member on the National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs subcommittee, wrote to panel chair Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., in a letter made public on Thursday.
"Senator Tuberville plans to continue blocking military nominations even amid the crisis in Israel, not allowing the promotion of top officers slated to command U.S. forces in the Middle East and two picks for the Joint Chiefs of Staff," said a press release Garcia's office accompanying the letter.
Garcia warned that the holds are also negatively impacting the servicemembers' careers.
"Until the hundreds of senior military officials are confirmed, junior officers continue to lose the opportunity to rise in rank," he wrote. "Such career stagnation has massive impacts on factors such as retention, pay, pension, and future opportunity."
Last month, the Senate confirmed chiefs for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. While the holds do not specifically block the Senate from voting on the nominations, they cannot do so by unanimous consent or in groups, as is usually the case for military nominees.
"This alternative process for confirming military leaders one by one is not feasible for all vacant positions," wrote Garcia, adding that it would eat up immense floor time and get in the way of other business the Senate has to conduct.
When asked about the letter, Steven Stafford, Tuberville's spokesperson, told Law360 on Thursday that he's "never heard of this House member, so I'm not familiar with this."
However, "a better use of congressional time might be a hearing on the Pentagon's illegal abortion policy or the prevalence of wokeness at the very top of the chain of command," Stafford continued.
Various Democrats have repeated their calls for Tuberville to drop his hold in light of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
"The support our Armed Forces can provide to Israel is a critical deterrent in preventing the violence from escalating further," Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Yet, Senator Tuberville is hurting military readiness at a time when our close ally is counting on our military leaders for help."
Grothman's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter and the DoD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the holds.
--Additional reporting by Daniel Wilson. Editing by Vaqas Asghar.
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