By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Thursday accused the Republican party of "undermining the U.S. military" by allowing Republican U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville to block more than 300 U.S. military appointments over the Pentagon's abortion policy.
Tuberville, a social conservative from Alabama, began blocking confirmations to senior Pentagon posts in March to protest a Defense Department policy enacted last year that provides paid leave and reimburses costs for service members who travel to get an abortion.
"The Republican party used to always support the military, but today, they're undermining the military," Biden said in a 27-minute speech honoring former President Harry S. Truman and his order desegregating the U.S. military 75 years ago.
Biden noted that Tuberville's actions were preventing many women and people of color from moving into more senior roles, some of them historic in nature.
Those include Air Force General CQ Brown, the first Black person to lead any branch of the armed services, whom Biden has nominated to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Navy Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who would become the first woman to command the service and become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"I think it's outrageous," Biden railed at an event at the National Archives. "A growing cascade of damage and disruption all because of one senator from Alabama and 48 Republicans who refuse to stand up to him to lift the blockade over the Pentagon."
Biden called on Republicans to end the "nonsense" and confirm the nominees. "I urge Senate Republicans to do what they know is right and keep our country safe like Harry Truman, and approve all those outstanding military nominees now, now, now."
The president said the "partisan freeze" was already harming military readiness, security and troop morale, and had put relocations and promotions on hold, creating massive uncertainty for military families about jobs, schools and housing.
The president also referenced comments and actions by two other Republican senators - Josh Hawley from Missouri and Ted Cruz from Texas - albeit without mentioning their names, who he said had disparaged the U.S. military as becoming "weak" or "soft."
Biden called the shift in Republican rhetoric and actions "dangerous" and appealed for unity to continue the nation's progress.
"Let us rise to the occasion and redeem the soul of this nation. Treat each other with decency and respect, change the dialogue."