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Notes -
Imo it's kind of reasonable not to set the precedent that we can hold up the functioning of the government so one guy gets to have a vote on a very tenuously related issue he's into. The Senate has passed a ton of bills the House is never going to look at either, that's just how a divided Congress goes.
Otherwise 100% agreed the boring, procedural stuff and general gov mechanics are super important and I wish they were reported on more.
I mean, it doesn't hurt that all these DOD appointments are pretty bad as well, if they were not there would be pressure from his own side to release some of the holds. He's both doing his own hobbyhorse thing, and improving national security (in the view of most Republicans).
All, like, 300 of them? They're mostly pretty ordinary career military folks, same as happens every time under every administration. The idea that not having administrators is better than having Democrat-favored administrators (as has happened under every administration) is better for national security is a stretch.
This is certainly not the view of most Republicans. The leader of the Senate Republicans, Mitch McConnell, has indeed pressured him to let through and publicly condemned the holdup. Even among Tuberville's own constituents, where a majority oppose the DoD policy, still:
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