Tommy Tuberville was essentially the only person who fought back against the military-based pregnancy system.  ,
Abortion-loving Democrats, of training, derided the Alabama legislator for imposing a cover keep on military confirmations and promotions— while was his right to perform — , in fighting back against the Biden administration’s plan subsidizing abortions in the U. S. military. The Department of Defense covered travel and other expenses for members of the military and their dependents who decided to cross state lines to kill the unborn in violation of the long-standing Hyde Amendment. Following the landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade and restoring abortion rights to the states, the Biden administration made a naked political move.  ,
Tuberville’s fellow Republicans, many of whom promote themselves as pro-life stalwarts, lashed out at the senator, too. Washington, D. C., can be a very lonely place for the principled.  ,
” Why are we putting holds on war heroes”? demanded Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, a retired colonel in the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve, during the contentious session. ” I don’t understand”. According to the Associated Press, Sullivan hoped Tuberville’s stand would be remembered as a “national security suicide mission,” apparently disregarding the fact that the Biden administration was overseeing a daily national security suicide mission.  ,
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S. C., who seems to have never met a war he hasn’t wanted U. S taxpayers to fund or some young service member to die in, scolded Tuberville for not just suing the Pentagon, because,” That’s how you handle these things”. Graham reacted furiously to the senator’s request to hold a vote on a two-star general’s nomination for Air Force deputy commander, saying,” You just denied that lady a promotion.”
The legendary college football coach known for his fortitude ( also known as the cajones ) stayed put for 11 long months despite the pressure from many in his own party. He backed down only after abortion-on-demand Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N. Y., Senate majority leader at the time, threatened to go around Tuberville and change the rules on Senate nominee holds. Tuberville continued to fight back against the Pentagon’s policies and stand up for the unborn and taxpayers.  ,
” Remarkably, Senator Tuberville held off the entire military-industrial complex and the Senate establishment …”, the Family Research Council said in a press release.  ,
Sen. Mike Lee, one of Tuberville’s most vocal defenders during the nomination battle, called his colleague a hero.  ,
Senator Tuberville fought ferociously for the rule of law and unborn Americans. The Utah Republican senator wrote on X shortly after Tuberville announced he would lift his blockade that his opponents had threatened to forever sabotage Senate procedure to get their way.  ,
Just hypocrites,
It took an election, a new commander-in-chief, and the Defense secretary that some Republicans trashed as too divisive and inexperienced to end Biden’s abortion subsidy. On Jan. 30., the DOD reversed the directive that had been in place since right before the 2022 midterm elections. The action came in response to Trump’s executive order urging states to” Enforce the Hyde Amendment” and requiring federal agencies to “end the use of federal taxpayer funds to fund or promote elective abortion.”  ,
The Hyde Amendment, which forbids federal tax dollars from funding abortion, has been the law of the land for almost 50 years, is acknowledged in the order’s recognition. The previous administration, in contrast to this long-standing commonsense policy, included federal funding for elective abortion in a wide range of government programs, according to Trump’s order. The use of funds to pay expenses, such as a per diem or travel expenses, that are incidental to the abortion is not prohibited, according to President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.  ,
Tuberville, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, applauded President Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth for putting an end to the Biden administration policy and the Democrats for using taxpayer dollars “like their own personal piggy bank” to “bankroll their woke agenda.”
The Alabama Republican claimed on a recent” The Federalist Radio Hour” that the Pentagon memo made him happy. He claimed he will never forget how brutal the battle was when he fought with “pro-life” Republicans on the Senate floor in the early hours of the morning. In addition, many of those same Republicans were among the first to thank the president and Hegseth for removing the Biden travel stipend for abortion.  ,
” It was funny. On the podcast, Tuberville describes how I watched the president pass this executive order while all of those same Republicans yelled and clapped that it was the right thing to do. ” Just hypocrites” . ,
From the Executive Order to the Law
Tuberville said it’s time to make Trump’s executive order law so that the next pro-abortion president can’t simply reverse executive branch policy, Hyde Amendment not withstanding.  ,
A version of the National Defense Authorization Act that included an amendment barring the Pentagon from paying for or reimbursing abortion-related expenses was passed by the Republican-controlled House last year, essentially on party lines.  ,
” Biden’s Department of Defense is using taxpayer dollars to fund time off, lodging and travel expenses for elective abortions, directly violating the long-standing Hyde Amendment in yet another attempt to promote abortion”, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas., who spearheaded the amendment to the defense bill, said in a press release.
A version of the NDAA without the prohibition passed the Democratic-controlled Senate, and Biden signed the nearly$ 900 billion spending bill in late December. Biden and other Democrats lamented that the law does not allow funding for transgender treatments and other medical mutilation of service members ‘ children.  ,
As of March 2024, the only time the Biden Pentagon had provided data on the abortion travel expense policy, “it had been used 12 times” and cost taxpayers$ 44, 791, the Military Times reported. The Department of Defense has requested more recent information.  ,
Swamp Fights Back
Interesting to note that the Biden administration had time to visit the Internal Revenue Service on Hegseth while the latter couldn’t bring itself to provide updates on how far the federal government has feigned to go about enforcing abortion restrictions. On X, the defense secretary claimed on Monday that the IRS had awarded him an audit as part of the Biden administration.  ,
” Of course, the incoming SecDef. was rushed into an” audit” by the outgoing Biden IRS. Total sham”, Hegseth wrote. A photo of an IRS letter Hegseth and his wife sent that states the couple owe the federal government$ 33, 558.16 is included in the post. The IRS demands that it be paid right away to avoid additional fines.
Hegseth cited another instance of the left’s use of the government to target its political foes, writing,” The party of norms and decency strikes again.” ” We will never back down”.
Tuberville is aware of the emotions he and other people face when they battle the military-industrial complex for survival. The senator, who is the son of a World War II veteran and a fervent supporter of American service members, claimed he received unfair treatment for upholding his beliefs. In the tumultuous Senate debates over Biden’s military nominees, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts observed that” Washington always fights back when Mr. Smith goes to Washington.” According to Roberts, Tuberville “refused to abandon unborn children in favor of unelected bureaucrats.”
In the swamp, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Tuerbovitz compared Trump’s efforts to expose and investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal bureaucracy to his efforts to stop the government subsidizing abortion. The administrative state is going to war with the administration now that the Trump administration is threatening thousands of unelected bureaucrat jobs in the swamp.  ,
Trump, too, has taken on the DEI ( diversity, equity, and inclusion ) complex that has infected the U. S. government.  ,
In a press release following the DOD’s reversal of the Biden-era abortion assistance policy, Tuberville said he’s encouraged by the Trump administration quickly addressing” the poisonous, woke ideology that has permeated every part of our government, including the military”.
The senator said,” I’m proud of the small role I played in protecting taxpayers and standing up for life.” ” Trump and I have something in common: promises made, promises kept”.
Matt Kittle covers The Federalist’s senior elections coverage. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
