In his July 20 Thursday Opinion column, “Tuberville is holding the military chain of command hostage,” Hugh Hewitt missed the point of the hold by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on military promotions.
Yes, the senator disagrees with taxpayer money being used to fund travel for abortions, a change that came about in October via a memo from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The larger issue here is one of supreme importance: Who has the authority to make such a change? The Constitution vests all legislative powers in Congress, not the defense secretary. If the Biden administration wants to fund abortion or abortion-related travel, it should work to get Congress to change the policy, especially because 10 U.S. Code 1093, the law that prevents such expenditures, has been in place since 1984.
Mr. Tuberville should be applauded, not derided, for protecting the authority of every lawmaker, from either party, to make laws for the people they are elected to represent.
Kristen Ullman, Alexandria
The writer is president of the Eagle Forum.
First published in the Letters to the Editor, Washington Post