WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is blocking the quick promotion of the top military aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over concerns that he and other senior staff did not immediately notify President Joe Biden when Austin was hospitalized with complications from cancer treatment earlier this year.
Biden in July nominated Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark to become commander of U.S. Army forces in the Pacific. But Clark has faced criticism from Republicans over his role as one of Austin’s top aides when the defense secretary was in the hospital in January and did not tell Biden or other U.S. leaders.
Republicans said the fact that Biden was kept in the dark about Austin not being in command for days could have meant confusion or delays in military action, even though decision-making authorities had been transferred to the deputy defense secretary.
Tuberville’s hold comes a year after he came under intense criticism from colleagues in both parties for holding up hundreds of military promotions over a Pentagon abortion policy. The Senate finally approved 425 military promotions and nominations in November after Tuberville relented.
Republican colleagues said they agreed with Tuberville on the abortion policy but openly pressured him to drop the holds, voicing concern about military readiness and the toll it was taking on service members and their families who had nothing to do with the regulations.
A spokeswoman for Tuberville, Hannah Eddins, said Tuesday that the senator has concerns about Clark’s role during Austin’s hospitalization, including that he did not inform Biden. She said that Tuberville is waiting on an a report from the Pentagon's inspector general that will review the matter.
“As a senior commissioned officer, Lt. Gen. Clark’s oath requires him to notify POTUS when the chain of command is compromised,” Eddins said, using an acronym for the president of the United States.
Majority Democrats could still bring Clark’s nomination up for a vote, but Tuberville’s hold likely delays his confirmation because several days of floor time would be needed to confirm him. The nomination will expire with the end of the congressional session and the next president would have to renominate Clark or someone else to the post if he is not confirmed by early January.
Pentagon spokesperson James Adams said that Tuberville’s new hold, which was first reported by The Washington Post, “undermines our military readiness.”
“Lt. Gen. Clark is highly qualified and was nominated for this critical position because of his experience and strategic expertise,” Adams said in a statement. “We urge the Senate to confirm all of our qualified nominees.”
Austin has come under bipartisan criticism for initially keeping Biden in the dark about his health issues and hospitalization. Austin was admitted to intensive care for complications from prostate cancer surgery on Jan. 1, but the White House was not told until Jan. 4. Austin’s senior staff were notified on Jan. 2.
The defense secretary later said he takes full responsibility and had apologized to Biden. Still, Austin insisted that there were no gaps in control of the department or the nation’s security because “at all times, either I or the deputy secretary was in a position to conduct the duties of my office.”
An earlier Pentagon review of the matter blamed privacy restrictions and staff hesitancy for the secrecy, and called for improved procedures, which have been made.
The White House also laid out a new set of guidelines to ensure it will be informed any time a Cabinet head can’t carry out their job. The new guidelines include a half-dozen instructions for Cabinet agencies to follow when there is a “delegation of authority,” or when secretaries temporarily transfer their authority to a deputy when unreachable due to medical issues, travel or other reasons.
FILE - Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., listens to a question during a news conference, March 30, 2022, in Washington. Tuberville is blocking the quick promotion of an aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Tuberville is blocking the nomination of Lt. Gen Ron Clark over concerns that he and other senior staff did not quickly notify President Joe Biden when Austin was hospitalized with complications from cancer treatment earlier this year. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen put women in many of the top roles on her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc on Tuesday, despite the reluctance of many EU member states to give in to her demand for gender parity.
Von der Leyen put six women among the eight top positions in her team. Her position as EU chief and Kaja Kallas as foreign policy chief were already agreed on by government leaders.
Von der Leyen on Tuesday added Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribero to lead the green transition, along with Ribero also becoming the anti-trust czar. Three other women were also named as Commission vice presidents.
The appointments of the Commission team — which veers to the right after the June elections saw a surge of far right parties — still have to be confirmed.
The appointment as executive vice president of Raffaele Fitto of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard right Brothers of Italy party is bound to cause controversy during the parliamentary confirmation hearing in the coming weeks.
Also on Tuesday, von der Leyen gave French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne the industrial portfolio, after French heavyweight Thierry Breton resigned and openly criticized the EU chief for allegedly “questionable governance” on Monday,
It left France with a strong voice in the Commission, and many saw Breton's shock resignation more as a removal by von der Leyen of one of her most open internal critics after exerting pressure on French authorities.
Compounding such problems was the defiance of many of the 27 member states as von der Leyen struggled to get anywhere close to gender parity on her Commission team — they staunchly refused to give her a choice between a male and a female candidate.
She said that originally, EU nations only proposed 22% female candidates before she started to push for more.
“So I worked with the member states and we were able to improve the balance to 40% women and 60% men. And it shows that — as much as we have achieved — there is still so much more work to do,” von der Leyen said.
If she could not get full gender parity in numbers, von der Leyen made sure they were more than well represented in the top jobs.
After days of secret talks with individual European governments about their picks, von der Leyen huddled with the leaders of the political groups at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, to discuss the makeup of her college before making the final announcement.
Now attention will center on the hearings in the European Parliament, where each candidate can be rejected to force a member state to put another candidate forward.
All eyes are expected to be on Fitto.
Greens lawmaker Rasmus Andresen said the appointment of Fitto, a representative of a far-right party, to the post of executive vice president of the Commission is “completely incomprehensible.”
“Can an anti-European manage EU funds,” Andresen asked.
However, von der Leyen said the Commission team had to reflect Italy's weight as a founding member and major economy.
"The importance of Italy is reflected in the portfolio and the executive vice president. And I think the balance is also very well kept,” von der Leyen said.
Even if the Commission's makeup has hardly become the talk of bar rooms or barber shops across the vast EU of 450 million people, it has enthralled the upper echelons of politics and bureaucracy, as they sought to boost one candidate or undermine another.
The Commission proposes legislation for the EU’s 27 member countries and ensures that the rules governing the world’s biggest trading bloc are respected. It’s made up of a College of Commissioners with a range of portfolios similar to those of government ministers, including agriculture, economic, competition, security and migration policy.
The Commission is to start work on Nov. 1, but speculation is rife that it might not get down to business before January.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for the next five-year, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for a session at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg.(AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, talk prior to the start of a session at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, second right, speaks with from left, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton and European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi during a meeting of the College of Commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels, on June 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
