DeSantis backs Tuberville's Pentagon holds over abortion policy

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has thrown his support behind Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville's efforts to oppose the Pentagon's policy of providing paid leave for military servicemembers to travel out of state to obtain an abortion.

The Alabama lawmaker has held up a litany of key promotions and military nominations in protest of the policy. While he cannot unilaterally block them, by refusing to grant unanimous consent, he may force the Senate to schedule floor time for individual hearings instead of approving the nominations as a slate, as is conventional.

Appearing on the "Hugh Hewitt Show," DeSantis fielded a question from the eponymous host as to whether Tuberville ought to drop the hold, which he prefaced by saying that Tuberville "has 270 career military general officers and admirals on hold, and it’s screwing up the chain of command."

DeSantis contended Tuberville ought to maintain the hold, saying "the reason is what the military’s policy is, is not following U.S. law."

"They are using tax dollars. They are funding abortion tourism, which is not an appropriate thing for the military to be doing," he continued. "So I think our Republicans in the Congress should just take a stand on this. The DOD should stand down."

Tuberville has maintained the hold for months, despite minimal Republican support and intense media scrutiny. He maintains that the hold does not undermine military readiness given that the affected posts currently have acting personnel performing the official functions of those posts.

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