Senate confirms Air Force, Navy chiefs as Tuberville hold remains in force

The U.S. Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly confirmed the appointments of three senior military officials, including the top officers of the Air Force and Navy.

In two 95-1 votes, the Senate approved both Adm. Lisa Franchetti as chief of naval operations and Gen. David Allvin as Air Force chief of staff, The Hill reported. Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall was the sole opponent in both votes. The lower chamber also confirmed Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.

Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Wednesday secured support to force a vote on Mahoney's nomination, doing so after reports emerged that Marine Corps Commandant Eric Smith had been hospitalized over the weekend. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in response, filed for cloture himself to advance Mahoney's confirmation.

Schumer and Tuberville have been at loggerheads for months since the Alabama Republican implemented a blanket hold on military nominations to protest the Department of Defense's policy of providing paid leave for military servicemembers to obtain abortions. While he cannot unilaterally block Pentagon nominees, he can refuse to allow their confirmation by unanimous consent in batches, as is typical. With his opposition, the upper chamber must hold individual votes and hearings to advance key nominations.

Allvin's confirmation follows the advancement of his predecessor, C.Q. Brown, to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in late September. Schumer brought that nomination forward as Tuberville circulated his own cloture petition to force a vote despite his own hold.

"I took it to the floor and said I'm going to do my own cloture vote. I'm going to bring my own vote up, and Schumer says, 'No, no, no. We can't let him do that. He'll grandstand on us. We'll do it,'" he said at the time.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.