Sullivan defends GOP senator for blocking 250 military nominees; doesn't mention Marine Corps vacancy
It’s no surprise that Sen. Dan Sullivan, appearing on Meet the Press, did not attack the Republican senator who is blocking hundreds of military promotions over a Pentagon policy on travel to states where abortion is not banned.
Sullivan changed the subject, claiming the real problem is that President Biden’s plan to increase Department of Defense spending by $26 billion, excluding money for Ukraine, is really a reduction because of inflation.
(The Congressional Research Service contradicts that claim in this report, saying that after inflation there would be a $6.9 billion increase under the DOD Biden budget, excluding Ukraine.)
Sullivan’s appetite for appearing on national TV is increasing, while he continues to duck interviews with Alaska reporters, communicating through press releases prepared by his employees.
Also appearing on Meet the Press, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth said that Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville has backed himself into a corner with his stunt and is jeopardizing national security.
“Let me be very clear: the Defense Department is not funding abortions,” Duckworth wrote July 14. “It simply allows service members reimbursement for travel if they are forced to make their way to a state with less draconian reproductive policies. There, they can receive a range of health care services, from IVF to, yes, legal abortions.”
Sullivan did not mention that the blockade by Tuberville, a former football coach, has left the Marine Corps without a leader for the first time in 164 years.
Sullivan is a colonel in the reserves and the de facto spokesman for the Marine Corps in the Senate.
There is no question that Sullivan would have made much of the Marine Corps job vacancy had this been the work of a Democratic senator.
Since March, Tuberville has blocked all major Defense Department nominations, about 250 so far and climbing.
Because of Tuberville, Gen. Eric Smith is now the acting commandant of the Marines, as well as the nominee for the next commandant and the assistant commandant.
Sullivan said it’s up to Senate Democrats and the Biden administration to work out a compromise with Tuberville to end the stalemate.
“Every senator has the right to place holds on nominees on an issue of policy importance,” said Sullivan.
In fact, under the ridiculous rules of the Senate, any senator can block nominees for any reason.
Todd failed to ask about the Marine Corps vacancy, allowing Sullivan to remain silent on that matter and attack the president and Democrats.
“The president, a lot of my Democratic colleagues are talking about this as a big national security issue,” Sullivan said, launching into his usual spiel that President Biden’s budget increase for the military is a cut because it does not keep up with inflation.
The budget for next year “is going to take us below 3 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) spending, that’s the lowest level is almost 70 years. To me that’s the biggest national security threat and readiness threat we have facing us and that’s something the president needs to address directly.”
Sullivan, who always endorses increased military spending without saying how to pay for it, is deceptively selective with statistics. The Biden administration has asked Congress for $842 billion for the DOD, $26 billion more than this year.
The U.S. spends far more than any other nation on military matters. Claiming that defense spending is the lowest level in almost 70 years is indefensible.
In total, Biden is proposing $911 billion for all categories of military spending, compared to $905.5 billion this year. The cost will soon rise to more than $1 trillion a year.
“Adjusting for inflation, the level of defense spending projected for national defense in FY 2024 is higher than during the Cold War-era military buildup of the 1980s and lower than during the height of post 9/11 operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says.
* On his visit to Fairbanks in 1923, President Warren Harding met with a big crowd during the festivities connected with the official completion of the Alaska Railroad, the project that saved Fairbanks from extinction.
From the Associated Press coverage of Harding’s Alaska tour.
The first gold rush to Fairbanks peaked in 1910 and the community went into a long decline. There were hundreds of vacant dwellings a decade later. The town and the territory had been drained by World War I, but the railroad brought a new burst of optimism and enthusiasm.
Fairbanks Mayor Tom Marquam asked for a show of hands about whether people wanted the government to retain control of the brand new railroad. The verdict was unanimous in favor of continued government control. A front-page column in the News-Miner Sunday claimed the populace wanted the railroad privatized. That is not accurate.
All the newspaper accounts of the time are in agreement that the prevailing political opinion expressed at the meeting that day was strong support for government control, which was viewed as the only option to prevent a private monopoly from controlling the Alaska economy.
*The University of Alaska has failed to correct the false statement on its website that interim regents Tuckerman Babcock and Seth Church have terms that run until 2031 and 2027 respectively.
The UA website should say that the terms for both men expire in 2024.
The terms for both men, under state law, expire on the fifth day of the next legislative session. The governor’s office has also failed to correct the record. Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed both men to the regents when the Legislature was not in session.
Under state law he was required to put a nominee forward within three days of the rejection of Bethany Marcum for a confirmation vote.
Dunleavy did not follow the state law, knowing that Babcock would have been rejected by the same lawmakers who opposed Marcum. It is likely that Dunleavy will appoint Babcock and Church again next year.
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