HUNTSVILLE, Ala — Representatives from Alabama's branch of the NAACP and retired military veterans are calling upon Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville to end his ongoing blockade of military promotions and to "stop playing games" with the country's defense.
Sen. Tuberville has been on a months-long stalemate with the Biden administration, blocking confirmation of military officers in protest of a Defense Department policy that pays for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or reproductive care.
In a statement made in Huntsville on Thursday, Alabama State Conference NAACP President Benard Simelton, who is also an Air Force veteran, said he believes President Biden's recent decision to keep Space Command headquarters in Colorado is due partly to Tuberville's holdout.
Simelton said that beyond costing the North Alabama region continued growth with the Space Command assignment, the military confirmation blockade is risking our nation's security.
"Some positions are a three-star billet, meaning that it requires a three-star general to be in that position," Simelton said, "but maybe a one-star general is filling that position. A one-star general doesn't have the same clout as a three-star general in the military."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has himself called the impasse "an unprecedented, unnecessary, and unsafe" time in our nation's military history.
Following the news conference, the NAACP delegation crossed the street to the senator's offices to hand deliver a letter to Tuberville, along with a resolution to compel him to end the blockade. FOX54 was not allowed to film the delegation in the offices, but we do have a photo of Simelton slipping copies of the letter underneath a closed office door. Tuberville was not present.
You can see a copy of those documents here.
We have reached out to Tuberville's representatives for comment on the letter and are awaiting a reply.