Austin has written a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) complaining about Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and his effort to force a change in the military’s medical policy that now provides financial assistance for abortions.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-North Carolina) has concerns of his own, too, but they’re more about how badly President Joe Biden’s social agenda has weakened our military.
Warren, Tuberville and Budd are all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Department of Defense has tried to sidestep last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion decisions to the states. Abortion is now banned in 14 states, and highly restricted in many others, but a new DOD policy allows service members and dependents to receive up to three weeks paid leave, and costs associated with travel, if they travel to states that will perform abortions.
Tuberville countered that policy by placing a “hold” on nominations for promotion by the Department of Defense The hold doesn’t actually block promotions entirely but makes them much more difficult by removing a rubber stamp-method of approval. That slow process forces Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to use valuable Senate floor time to consider nominations individually when the body could be discussing other business.
“Sen. Tuberville rightly has opposed a hold on promotions until Lloyd Austin changes that policy, which would use taxpayer dollars to fund travel for abortions inside the U.S. military, which is wrong," Sen. Budd told the "Washington Watch" program. "It violates the Hyde Amendment."
Budd says the administration’s aggressive push of leftist policies, such as the abortion policy, poses a national security threat.
“The administration seems to be less focused on protecting our country, protecting our borders, and more focused on pushing these crazy agendas that we know break down the family and ultimately hurt our country," he warned.
Getting around TikTok ban for certain goals
Beyond the abortion-supporting Pentagon, there is also the issue of promoting filth and ignoring safety concerns. What makes the work of a U.S. Navy drag queen recruiter more odd is that Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley – who goes by Harpy Daniels when he dresses as a female – has hundreds of videos posted to TikTok, a China-owned social platform banned by the government.
The U.S. isn’t the only country to ban TikTok from government devices due to concerns that its parent company, ByteDance, would share data or push propaganda on behalf of the China. Great Britain and Canada have said no to TikTok as well as a number of Middle East nations.
The Navy enlisted Kelley as a digital ambassador hoping to turn the tide on the plummeting number of recruits, which is a troubling issue by itself when war with China's navy seems to grow closer every day.
Budd said he has gotten no answer on why Kelley’s drag show is acceptable use of TikTok while a government ban is in place.
“It’s been radio silence as far as a response to this which is par for the course on so many things,” Budd said. “There are bans on TikTok on U.S. government devices, so why would they want to have someone who has built their career on TikTok as a drag queen recruit people?"
The concern our once-powerful armed forces is being weakened by wokeness is just one issue. Another issue is finding numbers to fill an all-volunteer force when recruiting goals are being lowered and barely attained.
Budd said he sees a lot of good when interacting with young enlisted personnel, but there’s no doubt decisions by leadership leave many discouraged.
“I talk to young people and I see so much good going on in the military," he said, "but they say things like this really discourages them."
