For months GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville has kept hundreds of military officers from taking their posts as he pressures the Department of Defense to change its abortion policy and now the incoming leaders of Colorado Springs-based Space Command and the combined Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command are set to get caught up in the delays. 

The two generals – Space Force Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting who has been nominated to lead U.S. Space Command and Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot who is expected to take over Northern Command and NORAD – faced a joint confirmation hearing last week in front of the Senate Committee on Armed Services in which Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., underscored the uncertainty around their confirmations. 

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“Let me point out though that both Gen. Whiting and Gen. Guillot said ‘if confirmed’ a number of times. … The ‘if confirmed’ is certainly in question because of Sen. Tuberville’s holds on these promotions,” Kelly said. 

Tuberville, R-Ala., is holding up about 270 military officer nominations because he opposes a Department of Defense policy that allows service members to take administrative leave to seek abortion care. The DOD covers some abortions, such as in cases of rape or if the mother’s life is in danger. Under a new policy, if the service member is in a state where abortion care has been restricted they can travel to seek care. Twenty-five states have restricted access to abortion following last year’s Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

President Joe Biden called out Tuberville in a statement this month, saying holding up routine confirmations of military nominations “is not only wrong – it is dangerous. In this moment of rapidly evolving security environments and intense competition, he is risking our ability to ensure that the United States Armed Forces remain the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.”

If he keeps holding up confirmations 650 positions could by vacant by the end of the year, according to the DOD.

Among the Colorado delegation, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet has been one of the most vocal critics, taking to the Senate floor seven times to try to move nominations through the process. There have been about 15 requests to confirm the nominations in total. When Tuberville blocked his most recent attempt to confirm the nominees, Bennet pointed out the hold has affected the highest ranking officers, including the nominee for the nation’s top military position, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. 

“The senator from Alabama claims that what he is doing doesn’t matter; that our generals don’t matter. That’s far from the truth. Leadership matters, especially in the Armed Forces,” he said. 

He also noted delaying the nominations is unfair to military families who need to make plans to move from one military base to another and it’s making a challenging lifestyle harder.

When nominations for general and flag officer positions are delayed it filters down to lower ranking officers, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, calling Tuberville’s delays a readiness issue. 

“It cascades. It creates friction throughout the entire chain,” Austin said. 

The military’s policy does not pay for elective abortions, as Tuberville has claimed, but it does allow service members to take leave to obtain health care that the military does not cover, Austin said. He noted that it was important to him to preserve access to health care for women, since they represent one in five service members. 

“The importance of the health and welfare of my troops is really, really important to me, and we’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that they have that access,” he said. 

Tuberville said in a speech earlier this month that he did not see it as a readiness issue and while he has spoken to Austin twice on the phone recently, there has been no movement toward a compromise. 

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“Thus far the Pentagon has done nothing but attack me,” he said. 

He also said he felt as though support for his position was building and growing, saying most of the country is opposed to taxpayer-funded abortion. 

Tuberville has drawn the support of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Rifle, who praised him in mid-July for jamming up Biden’s agenda. 

“I am proud to stand with his efforts,” she said. 

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, had no comment on Tuberville’s holds.