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Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I follow the strong remarks from my colleague from New Hampshire.

I also note that we are joined by the Senator from Massachusetts, who has called out these delays from the very beginning, called out this what I will call a blockade. We thank Senator Reed for his leadership of this committee.

These Senators here before us work every single day to make sure our military is strong. And what is going on with the Senator from Alabama, he has placed a reckless hold--a reckless hold--on the nominations of some of our Nation's finest public servants to more than 275 general and flag officer positions.

These holds, as you have heard tonight, are preventing the Pentagon from executing smooth leadership transitions for the most critical roles in our Nation's security apparatus and leaving entire Agencies without leaders.

I should note that our colleague from Alabama has not taken issue with the quality of these 275 candidates. In fact, some of these candidates were actually nominated for other positions by the previous President and earned bipartisan support. But our colleague from Alabama, for the reasons outlined by my friend from New Hampshire, is now holding the entire military chain of command hostage.

When I was home this past weekend, when I was at festivals, when I was in parades, everyone knew someone, everyone knew someone at the Duluth Airshow that was being held up. Everyone had heard about it from their friends. Certainly, every marine I met, they knew what was going on. So if people think this is just politics as usual and one Senator can just hold up the promotions and the positions of these fine public servants, they are wrong. People have noticed.

For example, we are currently without a confirmed Commandant of the Marine Corps. Our country has not been in this position since 1911. To say it in a different way, in 112 years, we have never let this role sit vacant until today because of one single Senator and his views, which, by the way, are not consistent with the majority of the American people's views.

My colleague has also stalled the promotions of three esteemed military leaders with strong ties to my own State. If you ask me, careers of honorable service should not be met by the politics of partisan spite.

My colleague's completely unnecessary interruption of promotions that support our military's essential work comes at a time when having steady, complete teams in place couldn't be more important. Whether you look at Ukraine's existential fight against Russia or the ever-growing threat of China, it is clear that the world needs America's leadership.

I spoke about this last night at length and today when it comes to keeping our covenant with those who stood with us on the battlefield, those who stood with us in Afghanistan. And here we are again tonight, really talking about the same thing in a different way.

We can talk all we want on this floor about what goes on, but those who actually serve, they deserve the best. And this is not the time to let essential roles sit vacant. Our servicemembers and the civilians who serve our military must be able to look to their leaders for guidance and stability.

This blockade is creating uncertainty among the people whose job it is to protect our Nation and forcing less experienced leaders to act in more senior roles.

I don't want to wait around and see what the worst possible outcome of delaying these transitions could be. In fact, I don't even want to think about that. But because of my colleague's blockade, we have no choice.

To use the words of one retired admiral, ``This is not a game.'' Our country deserves better. The Senate must do better.

Every day this blockade, caused by one Senator--one Senator-- continues, it hurts our military, and it helps our enemies. We must end the blockade now.

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