military. so nothing i say here may persuade him, but what is happening is a travesty and a tragedy for our nation because it undermines not just our readiness now but our recruitment in the future. the marine corps is the only service that is making its criement -- recruitment goal. the army, navy, air force are down significantly, and this beings which disgracefully puts our readiness at risk, serious danger also undermines our ability to attract the best and brightest from this country as our military has always done. it is the reason that we have the greatest military in the world. we have all of the weapons systems. we have the kinds of hardware

that we need. but most important, we need the great men and women who will be discouraged by this action by the senator from alabama. so i plead with him, but most important, i ask the american people to be aware and be angry as we all should be, and i hope that my colleagues will join the american people in per persuading him that this kind of hold is shameful and disgraceful and should be rejected. thank you, a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. ms. collins: mr. president, placing holds -- mr. kelly: mr. president, placing holds on hundreds of military promotions over a single policy disagreement is unconscionable. it's harming our national security and is is going to have

cascading effects for years. not only will military services be left without confirmed leaders, but our senior leaders are going to have to do multiple jobs at once. this will disadvantage the services at every level and leave less experienced members to have to step in to fill their boss's shoes. as shutdown served in the navy -- as someone who served in the navy for 25 years, i want to paint a picture of what at that looks like in the real world. operations, plans, they will not get updated. these are the plans that prepare us for military conflicts, humanitarian disasters, and any conflict we face around the world. operations and exercises will suffer because they lack an expert at the head of the table who can weigh strategic risks

and who is empowered by congress to make critical decisions. we won't have confirmed senior leaders at the table in places like africa, where we're trying to strengthen ties and security cooperation with our partners to counter violent extremists and the rising influence of russia and china. and, mr. president, speaking of china, we won't have confirmed senior leaders at critical posts in the region in that region of the world where they are empowered to bolster our capabilities. and let's not forget, these holds are preventing the promotions of military leaders in alabama. there are a lot of really important units who operate out of the redstone arsenal

including the missile defense agency, which is responsible for developing u.s. defense against incoming ballistic missiles u --. the missile defense agency's next director is one of those officers at redstone who is waiting for his third star before he can officially assume this new role. the senator from alabama is preventing that. do we really want a leadership gap at the missile defense agency? and, lastly, i have to mention that this tactic treats our military servicemembers and their families like political pawns. let me tell you you this isn't just like holding up a promotion like in any other job. this blockade of military

promotions, it's hurting military families who are having to put off moves to new assign piments across the country or across the world. that means a military spouse cannot start a new job. it means a new school year starts without military kids. -- who are stuck at their last base and don't know if they're going to be able to maybe try out for the sports team or join a club. now, mr. president, i know from experience just how hard these moves are. they're hard for military families. and that's under the best of circumstances. let alone when they are stuck in the middle of this? and as our military faces recruitment challenges, this stunt -- and, mr. president, this is a stunt -- this stunt is making a decision ease sis for a

military family who has supported their servicemembers maybe for decades to finally say that they've had enough. now maybe they'll choose to retire instead of assume yet another unknown brought to you by the senator from alabama. or maybe a junior servicemember, maybe that person decides not to make a career in the military because they see so much uncertainty as their bosses are treated like political pawns. and these holds, these holds are going to have cascading effects. it's going to get worse and worse. this is not just some abstract idea. let me talk about a few of the military leaders whose promotions are being blocked. mr. president, the president of the united states has nominateed

rear admiral frederick kacher to be comearnd -- commander of the sevenths fleet. the commander of the seventh fleet is not going to be able to take over as a confirmed vice admiral in that job, spent 29 years in service in 29 duty assignments and buy the senator from alabama he is being treated like a pawn. the president also nominated rear admiral douglas perry to be vice admiral in the united states navy, currently the second fleet commander in the joint forces command in norfolk. he spent 34 years in the united states navy. the senator from alabama is treating him like a political pawn. the president nominated rear admiral yvette davis to be vice admiral in the united states navy and the superintendent of

the u.s. naval academy. she has spent 34 years in service. she was the commander of a carrier strike group and now the senator from alabama is treating her like a political pawn. the president has nominated rear admiral brendan mcclain to be vice admiral in the united states navy and commander of the naval surface forces command, the naval surface force in the pacific fleet. he spent 33 years in service. the senator from alabama is treating him like a political pawn. the president nominated rear admiral david cheaver to be vice admiral of the navy and the commander of the knave air forces of the pacific fleet. i served in the pacific fleet aboard an aircraft carrier.

admiral cheaver spent 35 years in the united states navy, now being treated like a political pawn. the president has nominated vice admiral charles cooper to be a vice admiral of the united states navy and the deputy commander of the u.s. central command. mr. president, how critical is that? 34 years of service being treated as a political pawn. the president nominated robert goucher to be vice admiral of the united states navy, all of our submarines in the atlantic fleet attacking ballistic missile subs, he spent 32 years in the united states navy and the senator from alabama is treating him like a political pawn. the same is true for rear admiral shoshane chatfield. she has been nominated to be promoted to vice admiral and to be the u.s. military representative to nato.

nato's military committee. she has spent 35 years in uniform. the senator from alabama is treating her as a political pawn the president nominated rear admiral janes downy to be vice admiral in the u.s. navy and commander of the sea systems command. the naval sea systems command is all the engineering and development. mr. president, you know being a senator from virginia how critical it is to have somebody in this post. that is confirmed by the united states senate. the senator from alabama is treating the admiral as a political pawn. the president has nominated major general roger turner to be a lieutenant general in the united states marine corps and the commanding general of the third map. mr. president, i believe your son serves in the u.s. marine corps. the third in japan is not going

to have a confirmed general. he spent 34 years in service. mr. president, finally -- not finally, i have a few more. and, by the way, there's another 100 sitting over here on the bench. the president nominated vice admiral william houston to be an admiral of the united states navy, full admiral while serving as director of naval nuclear propulsion. this admiral is in charge of all of our nuclear reactors and he can't get promoted after spending 33 years in the united states navy because senator tuberville is treating him like a political pawn. now finally, mr. president, the president of the united states nominated major general tony howell to be a lieutenant general. i know major general howell.

he's serving as the commanding general and commandant and the commanding general in for the huachuca in my state of arizona. he spent 29 years in uniform. he's been in 18 different duty assignments, 6 in support of combat operations, and the senator from alabama is treating major general tony howell as his political pawn. mr. president, i've been here for two and a half years. there is not something i felt more strongly about than this, and i don't think the senator from alabama gets it. this blockade of military promotions is doing real damage to our national security right now. it's doing great harm to military families. it's going to have cascading effects for years. and every single day that this continues, the consequences, the consequences of this get more severe.

so i urge my senate colleague from alabama to remove his hold on these nominations so that the senate can perform its constitutional date and enable our military readiness and our national security. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: my colleague, the senator from arizona, speaks and spoke with authority of a person who committed his life before he came to the united states senate to the service of our country in the military. i do not speak with that authority. i speak with the gratitude of a citizen who's benefited by the

willingness of folks like the senator from arizona who dedicated their professional life to our country. in that respect, as a citizen i speak for what all americans have come to expect and rely on, and that is the willingness of young men and young women to sign up in service in the military, and among them people who make that commitment that this will be their career. and they do it day in and day out being ready for whatever may come, being willing to respond to the call of the commander in chief, no matter what they may be. and all of us as citizens who have not worn the uniform can take it for granted that we've got these folks out there. but now what the senator from

alabama is doing is essentially attacking that willingness to serve by pulling the rug out from under people who have dedicated their lives, served with distinction and earned the promotions for which they have been nominated by the president of the united states. you can't have an organization that functions where you don't have leaders. you can't have an organization that functions when people who have committed their lives to the profession, then when they perform with great distinction and get that nomination for promotion aren't promoted. it does, as the senator from arizona described, it erodes morale. it erodes effectiveness of the institution, and the cascading effects will be long term. and it is all on the basis of a

willful determination to essentially abuse the men and women in the military, to abuse the military itself for an individual goal that's unrelated to the performance of the military but has a very detrimental impact on the military. but, you know, there's another element here for senators. that's a big position, it's a lot of authority that goes with that job. but can any of us look in the mirror and feel good about the use of that authority when the effect of that power as it's being used right now is just flat-out mean. it's mean to families. it's mean to kids. you've got folks whose lives are

committed to the service of the military. they have been promoted. they're making a plan about taking children out of the schools they're in and getting them into a new school. that's incredibly disruptive and it takes a tremendous amount of love and concern on the part of the men and women in the military to make sure that as they get promoted and move on in their career, they go from where they are to where the next assignment is, that they take care of those kids. that's incredibly important. and how can a senator take an action that's going to cause so much trauma for innocent people, including the children of these people who have earned the distinction of a promotion? this has got to end. it's got to end. it's got to end because the citizens of this country are entitled to a functioning military and a single senator cannot intrude or should not intrude on the promotion process. this has got to end so that we

show respect for families and the burden that goes along with moving from where you are to the next duty station. so i join with my colleagues in calling upon the senator from alabama to stand down and let us act on these promotions. our men and women in the military deserve it. our military needs it. and the citizens of this country are entitled to it. mr. president, i yield