Christie on Tuberville’s choice to block military promotions: ‘I don’t think it’s the right one’
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing consider the nominations of Air Force Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot and Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting to the grade of general and to be top commanders of the the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Space Command, respectively, Wednesday, July 26, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie blasted Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) decision to block military promotions, saying impacting the military’s readiness is not the “best way” to get the changes he wants.
“I don’t think it’s the right one,” Christie said Thursday on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.” “I share his concern about the Biden administration’s disregard of the Hyde Amendment. But I don’t believe the best way to do it is to impact our military readiness. Now some will say it’s Joe Biden’s fault, and he shares the fault for that.
“But quite frankly, Senator Tuberville is the guy who is making these calls and holding up these promotions, and I just don’t believe it’s the right tactic.”
Tuberville’s nearly six-month hold on the positions has drawn criticism from figures on both sides of the aisle. According to a new poll, a majority of likely Alabama voters want their senator to drop his hold on military promotions.
Christie said Tuberville should look for a “more effective” way to change the Defense Department’s abortion policy that the senator argues violates the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used for abortion.
“Look, what I’d say to the senator is let’s work together to try to change this policy,” he said. “It’s obvious that his current approach to it, which has been going on for weeks now, isn’t … in any way at all. So let’s look for a more effective way to do it. And what I would say to him is I empathize with what he’s trying to accomplish, and I support it. But I don’t believe doing it by impacting our military at all is the right way to go about it.”
On Tuesday, GOP presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also called out Tuberville’s actions on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”
“I appreciate what Tuberville’s trying to do,” Haley said. “I do. Like, it’s totally wrong that the Department of Defense is doing this. But have we gotten so low that this is how we have to go about stopping it?”