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Sen. Tommy Tuberville says he will drop hold on all military nominations except for four-star officers
Washington — Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced Tuesday he will drop his monthslong hold on military nominations except for four-star general and flag officers. Since Tuberville began his hold in February, the backlog of nominations in the Senate has grown to affect over 450 officers.
“I’m not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer,” Tuberville told reporters Tuesday. “We just released them – about 440 of them. Everybody but 10 or 11 four-stars.”
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the Pentagon was “encouraged by the news” but he urged the Senate to move on all of the nominations, including at least 11 four-star officers. Ryder noted that some of the key four-star nominees include the heads of U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Pacific Air forces, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Cyber Command and U.S. Space Command.
His hold was a way to protest a Pentagon policy on abortion that reimburses travel expenses for service members who have to travel to seek an abortion or other types of reproductive health care. For months, Tuberville said he would drop his hold when the Pentagon changed its policy.
He said Senate leadership will bring the four-star nominations to the floor one by one.
His hold was a way to protest a Pentagon policy on abortion that reimburses travel expenses for service members who have to travel to seek an abortion or other types of reproductive health care. For months, Tuberville said he would drop his hold only when the Pentagon changed its policy.
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But on Tuesday, he backed down, saying, “It’s been a long fight. We fought hard.”
Usually, military nominations are confirmed in large blocks through a process called unanimous consent, but a single senator can block this process.
In recent months, Tuberville has faced pressure from even his Republican colleagues. In November, a group of GOP senators took to the floor to tell Tuberville that though they agree with his objection to this Pentagon policy, they disagree that a hold is the way to solve it.
After the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 led some states to enact abortion bans, the Pentagon announced it would reimburse travel expenses for service members who need to travel to seek an abortion or other types of reproductive health care.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made the point that service members don’t get to decide where they’re stationed, and many bases in the U.S. are in the states, like Alabama, that have increasingly restricted access to abortion.
The policy does not pay for abortions. The Hyde Amendment prevents the Defense Department facilities from performing abortions except for in the case of rape, incest or the health of the mother.
He noted the Pentagon has to consider when these officers can move and where the people that are moving out of the positions are going, all of which “has to be carefully orchestrated and done in a way that enables us to continue to conduct the operations, without having significant impact, not only on the mission, but also on the individual family members.”
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Long before comic book characters dominated movie screens, actor Christopher Reeve made the world believes in superheroes with the 1978 classic “Superman.”
Reeve died in 2004, nearly a decade after an accident re-shaped his life. “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is using interviews with family and friends and never-before-seen home videos to explore his real-life heroism.
Reeve started his career on the stage, studying at the prestigious Juilliard School and living with comedian Robin Williams. The pair had a friendship that was “more like a brotherhood,” said Reeve’s son Matthew. Reeve was in awe of Williams’ energy and versatility, Matthew Reeve said, but audiences quickly clued into Reeve’s own star power when he took on the role of the Man of Steel.
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To his children, though, he “was just dad,” Matthew Reeve said. The documentary explores how Matthew Reeve and his sister Alexandra Reeve Givens grew up watching their dad take the stage as Superman. “Super/Man” also reveals their heartbreak over their parents’ breakup and the joy they found when Reeve re-married. He tied the knot with Dana Reeve in 1992, and the pair welcomed another child, William Reeve, later that year.
“Dana was sunshine,” Alexandra Reeve Givens recalled. “She just brought joy with her wherever she was and could find it even in the darkest moments.”
Those dark moments came suddenly, when in 1995, a near-fatal horseback riding accident left Reeve paralyzed from the neck down. The documentary allows viewers to see, for the first time, what went on out of the public’s view. Reeve can be heard talking about how he “ruined (his) life and everybody else’s,” but in a touching moment, old friend Robin Williams is seen visiting him in the hospital.
“Robin showed him ‘Hey, you’re still you,'” Alexandra Reeve Givens said. “‘You still have this foundation of friendship and people around you, who adore you. And you’re going to find those fun moments in life again.'”
That support from friends and family re-ignited Reeve’s legacy of activism. He made appearances at the Democratic National Convention and the 68th Academy Awards in 1996, about a year after the accident. Matthew Reeve said watching his father address his industry peers at the Oscars was “one of (his) most proud moments.”
“It was just a production for him to get out of bed every morning, let alone get across the country and go out in public for the first time,” Matthew Reeve said. “It was a big deal. It was a big deal to him, but it was also a big deal to the entire disability community. We stayed up in London till like three in the morning to watch that live. It’s a fond memory.”
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Reeve also went on to launch what would become the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing research into spiral cord injury and help individuals and families impacted by paralysis. It was his dad’s mission to find a cure, Matthew Reeve said, while his stepmother wanted to focus on improving the lives of paralyzed people and their families. The foundation and Reeve’s platform helped bring unprecedented attention and funding to spinal cord injury research.
Reeve even kept acting and realized his lifelong dream of directing with the 1997 HBO movie “In the Gloaming.” Reeve died in 2004 from heart failure at 52.
“There is a huge amount of great actors and actresses out there, where their filmography might be amazing and what they achieve on a cultural level might be amazing, but have they actually achieved anything really as a human that moves the needle for our society?” said filmmaker Ian Bonhote, who made the documentary with Peter Ettedgui. “And Chris has done both things.”
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will open in theaters on Friday, Oct. 11.
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