Key House Democrat wants Senate rule change over Tuberville military hold
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) is calling for the Senate to change its rules amid Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) continued blockade of over 300 military promotions continues.
“I wish the Senate would change their rules so that one senator doesn’t have that kind of power, so that we actually would have a democracy where you have a fair vote,” Smith said of the upper chamber of Congress in an interview on CNN.
He added that it’s clear to him that Tuberville doesn’t believe in democracy.
“He doesn’t believe in the system of government that we’ve set up,” Smith argued. “You have a vote, you lose you move on.”
Smith, who served as a state senator in Washington in the 1990s, called the House Freedom Caucus and Tuberville’s approach to governance “incredibly destructive.”
“What he and the Freedom Caucus believe is ‘if you don’t get what you want, do as much damage as you possibly can’ to the government,” he said.
“In this case, it’s incredibly destructive to the defense of this country, to the national security of this country, to not be able to have top leaders appointed to their position nearly undermines our ability to protect this country bottom line, Smith added.
Republicans work for the Russians. So of course their job is to damage the country.
Remember how they held up Merrick Garland's appointment, and all the other federal judge appointments, so they could stuff the Supreme Court with their hand-picked acolytes who would do as they were told when the time came? Cynical minds think they're doing the same thing now with the military, because the last insurrection showed there wasn't enough support from military leaders.
Democrats need to take note.
The right promised the religious base they'd ban abortion. It took them almost 40 years, but they packed the court and got RvW overturned.
They came out, they promised, they did it.
Every democrat that promises M4A and doesn't deliver, i don't care why, needs to be voted out. Since Clinton M4A has been sidelined, and millions of Americans have died earlier than they should have and lost their lives earnings and their families being gutted generational wealth and inheritance. Besides the cruelty. Besides the insane wealth transfer from the bottom up, it's guaranteed no economic mobility. It's created a caste system.
The centrists are just as beholden to the 1% as the right is. Yale and Harvard have both dropped studies showing that public opinion has 0% effect on whether a bill gets passed.
Dems either stop holding a carrot in front of progressives and put people over profit or I, a fucking nobody, will file papers to start a new Progressive Party, with the Bull Moose as the mascot.
Dangle the carrot long enough, you'll find you end up getting the stick.
Look up Teddy Roosevelts platform from when he ran for president as a progressive.
we still have the SAME FUCKING EXACT PROBLEMS 100 YEARS LATER
no more carrots. Start grabbing big sticks.
Good on you for being proactive
The cornerstone of American politics, full democratic representation, was once a powerful force, enabling smaller states and minorities to influence US politics and direction instead of being marginalized.
Regrettably, some actors with ulterior motives have exploited this system, steering it away from democratic principles, prioritizing minority rule, and serving their own interests over the democratic spirit.
Not for nothing but I wish those 300+ in the middle of Tuberville’s pissing contest lobby against him and turn the military against the Republicans. Else, do you want a Junta? Cause this is how you get one! Piss off the people that operate the guns long enough and they’re gonna turn them on you
One person shouldn't have the power to hold the military hostage.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Smith, who served as a state senator in Washington in the 1990s, called the House Freedom Caucus and Tuberville’s approach to governance “incredibly destructive.”
Tuberville began his blockade in April in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy enacted late last year.
The policy, which covers travel expenses for abortion care, hit the six-month mark earlier this week.
“If Senator Tuberville doesn’t like that, well go support a Republican candidate for president next year, go to the ballot box and make your case.”
“But, to undermine the ability of our country to defend itself just because you didn’t get your way on one piece of policy is destructive and wrong,” he argued.
Tuberville has also faced strong criticism from Alabama voters, Democrats and the White House.
The original article contains 417 words, the summary contains 124 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
He's stopping unanimous consent. Nothing stopping Dems from pushing folks through the old fashioned way by having votes. Hell after a few days of headlines of Rs voting against properly staffing the military I'm sure they'll get Tuberville to ask for unanimous consent himself just to end the bad press on the rest of them.
Bad press? The are wearing Trumps mugshot like a badge oh honor my dude. Some are posting their own fake ones online. This would be the opposite of bad press for them.
Yup, keep talking about it instead of actually doing it.
Most Democrat thing ever. Let's discuss this for the next 6 months. We can talk about how it hurts our feelings. Then by the time they finish talking about it, they'll shelve the proposal because they'll state its too close to the elections. Because as always, Dems want to make sure they are fair to their opponents. Then after the election they'll have lost enough seats in the Senate from inaction that they won't be able to do anything. And during none of this time, will Democrats even think about informing the general public about this or make speeches to the military to show how unsupportive to the military the GOP really is.
If this was flipped, and a lone Democrat was holding up hundreds of military promotions, Republicans would be on the news every night talking about how much Democrats hate soldiers. They'd be pressuring the public to get in contact with that Dem. They'd probably be pulling some dirty tricks to make the promotions happen. They would find a way.
Im sure its bad intentions. But also fuck the US military
Funny how when someone doesn't just rubber stamp everything that hits their desk it becomes a threat to democracy. Surely an elected representative not approving things is equally as democratic as approving them, no?
You have to be joking. No one could possibly spin this as legit. From the article:
Sounds like the exact things he's there for: to play politics. I assume you're equally as vocal in opposition whenever politicians work towards goals you like?
So anything goes if you're playing politics? That's your argument?