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Floor Speech
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Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, placing holds on hundreds of military promotions over a single policy disagreement is unconscionable. It is harming our national security, and it is going to have cascading effects for years. Not only will military services be left without confirmed leaders, but our senior leaders are going to have to do multiple jobs at once. This will disadvantage the services at every level and leave less experienced members to have to step in to fill their bosses' shoes.
As someone who served in the navy for 25 years, I want to paint a picture of what that looks like in the real world. Operations plans-- they will not get updated. Now these are the plans that prepare us for military conflicts, for humanitarian disasters, and any conflict we face around the world.
Operations and exercises will suffer because they lack an expert at the head of the table who can weigh strategic risks and who is empowered by Congress to make critical decisions.
We won't have confirmed senior leaders at the table in places like Africa, where we are trying to strengthen ties and security cooperation with our partners to counter violent extremists and the rising influence of Russia and China.
And speaking of China, we won't have confirmed senior leaders at critical posts in the regions in that region of the world where they are empowered to bolster our capabilities.
And let's not forget, these holds are preventing the promotions of military leaders in Alabama. There are a lot of really important units who operate out of the Redstone Arsenal, including the Missile Defense Agency, which is responsible for developing U.S. defense against incoming ballistic missiles.
The Missile Defense Agency's next Director is one of those officers at Redstone who is waiting for his third star before he can officially assume this new role. The Senator from Alabama is preventing that.
Do we really want a leadership gap at the Missile Defense Agency?
And, lastly, I have to mention that this tactic treats our military servicemembers and their families like political pawns. Let me tell you, this isn't just like holding up a promotion like in any other job. This blockade of military promotions is hurting military families who are having to put off moves to new assignments across the country or across the world.
That means a military spouse cannot start a new job. It means a new school year starts without military kids who are stuck at their last base and don't know if they are going to be able to maybe try out for the sports team or join a club.
Now, I know from experience just how hard these moves are. They are hard for military families, and that is under the best of circumstances, let alone when they are stuck in the middle of this.
As our military faces recruitment challenges, this stunt--and this is a stunt--is making a decision easy for a military family who has supported their servicemembers, maybe for decades, to finally say that they have had enough. Maybe they will choose to retire instead of assume yet another unknown, brought to you by the Senator from Alabama, or maybe a junior servicemember--maybe that person--decides not to make a career in the military because they see so much uncertainty as their bosses are treated like political pawns. These holds are going to have cascading effects. It is going to get worse and worse. This is not just some abstract idea.
Let me talk about a few of the military leaders whose promotions are being blocked.
The President of the United States has nominated RADM Frederick W. Kacher to be a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and the Commander of the Seventh Fleet. The Commander of the Seventh Fleet is not going to be able to take over as a confirmed vice admiral in that job. He has spent 31 years in service in 29 different duty assignments. By the Senator from Alabama, he is being treated like a pawn.
The President has also nominated Rear Admiral Douglas G. Perry to be a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy. He is currently the Second Fleet's Commander of the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk. He has spent 34 years in the U.S. Navy, and the Senator from Alabama is treating him like a political pawn.
The President has nominated Rear Admiral Yvette M. Davids to be a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy. She has spent 34 years in service. She was the Commander of a carrier strike group. Now the Senator from Alabama is treating her like a political pawn.
The President has nominated Rear Admiral Brendan R. McLane to be a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and Commander of the Naval Surface Force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He has spent 33 years in service, and the Senator from Alabama is treating him like a political pawn.
The President has nominated Rear Admiral Daniel L. Cheever to be a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and also the Commander of the Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet. I served in the Pacific Fleet aboard an aircraft carrier. Rear Admiral Cheever spent 35 years in the U.S. Navy, and he was also the Commander of a carrier strike group. He is now being treated like a political pawn.
The President has nominated VADM Charles B. Cooper II to be a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Central Command. How critical is that? He has 34 years of service, but he is being treated as a political pawn.
The President has nominated Rear Admiral Robert M. Gaucher to be a vice admiral of the U.S. Navy. He is currently the Commander of the Naval Submarine Force and all of our submarines in the Atlantic Fleet-- attack and ballistic missile subs. He has spent 32 years in the U.S. Navy, and the Senator from Alabama is treating him like a political pawn.
The same is true for Rear Admiral Shoshana S. Chatfield. She has been nominated to be promoted to a vice admiral and to be the U.S. Military Representative to NATO's military committee. She has spent 35 years in uniform, and the Senator from Alabama is treating her as a political pawn.
The President has also nominated Rear Admiral James P. Downey to be a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and Commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command. The Naval Sea Systems Command is all of the engineering and development. The Presiding Officer knows, being a Senator from Virginia, how critical it is to have somebody in this post who is confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Senator from Alabama is treating the rear admiral as a political pawn.
The President has nominated Maj. Gen. Roger B. Turner, Jr., to be a lieutenant general in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Commanding General of the III MEF. I believe the Presiding Officer's son serves in the U.S. Marine Corps. The III MEF in Japan is not going to have a confirmed general. He has spent 34 years in service.
Finally--not finally; I have a few more. By the way, there are another hundred sitting over here on the bench.
The President has nominated VADM William J. Houston to be an admiral in the U.S. Navy--a full admiral--while serving as the Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion. This admiral is in charge of all of our nuclear reactors, and he can't get promoted after spending 33 years in the U.S. Navy because Senator Tuberville is treating him like a political pawn.
Finally, the President of the United States has nominated MG Tony Hale to be a lieutenant general. Now, I know Major General Hale. He is currently serving as the Commanding General and Commandant at Fort Huachuca in my State of Arizona. He has spent 29 years in uniform. He has been in 18 different duty assignments--six in support of combat operations. The Senator from Alabama is treating MG Tony Hale as his political pawn.
I have been here for 2\1/2\ years. There is not something I have felt more strongly about than this, and I don't think the Senator from Alabama gets it. I mean, this blockade of military promotions is doing real damage to our national security right now, it is doing great harm to military families, and it is going to have cascading effects for years. Every single day that this continues, the consequences--the consequences--of this get more severe. So I urge my Senate colleague from Alabama to remove his hold on these nominations so that the Senate can perform its constitutional duty to enable our military readiness and our national security.
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