Tuberville 'paralyzing' Pentagon, House Foreign Affairs chair says

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) repeatedly said Sunday that Sen. Tommy Tuberville's one-person blockade of military nominations was "paralyzing" the Defense Department.

"To hold up the top brass from being promoted and lower brass, I think, is paralyzing our Department of Defense," said McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on CNN's "State of the Union."

More than 300 nominations await consideration. Backers of Tuberville' blockade, which the Alabama Republican launched because of the Pentagon's abortion policy, have said the nominations could be considered individually, though doing so would tie up the U.S. Senate indefinitely.

Critics of Tuberville have noted that besides hindering military readiness by preventing new commanders from moving into place, the hold-up is unfair to military officers deserving of promotion and military families who are in limbo as they wait to locate to another post.

"I really wish he would reconsider this," McCaul told host Jake Tapper, "because we're working this issue out in the National Defense Authorization. We worked it out on the House side. We're going to conference in the Senate. We're going to work out this abortion issue."

Criticism of Tuberville has increased in recent weeks, with leaders of three branches of the U.S. military slamming him last week. “For someone who was born in a communist country, I would have never imagined that actually one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting communists and other autocratic regimes around the world,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Tuesday on CNN.

For his part, Tuberville has insisted that the Pentagon's policy on abortion, which covers some expenses for military personnel, is illegal and, therefore, must be protested. "I warned the Pentagon that I would hold their most senior nominees if they broke the law," he said.