“There is absolutely no reason why any Republican should vote against this bill,” Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said Friday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted that day: “We don’t want Disneyland to train our military.”
But the current bill is not expected to make it through the Democratic-led Senate intact.
Host Jake Tapper pointed out that the House had passed the measure, but Sullivan insisted it was only a limited number of Republicans behind the amendments that has triggered Democratic opposition to the measure.
“It was a small group of Republicans who essentially created a trap, a circumstance we don’t need to find ourselves in, Jake,“ he said.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,“ Sullivan again lamented that Republicans have let domestic politics intrude into national security matters. “What’s real is the necessary capabilities, technologies and fundamental social support for our troops and their families,“ he said. “That’s what this all should have been focused on, not these domestic, political issues.“
He added that a single Republican senator, Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville, is using Senate procedures to hold up military promotions because of the Pentagon’s policies concerning abortions for servicemembers. “I’m not changing my mind,“ Tuberville said last week.
Sullivan said Tuberville’s efforts were solely based on political considerations.
“For the first time in 150 years we don’t have a commandant of the Marine Corps,“ Sullivan said on ABC. “We are very soon not going to have a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of a chief of Naval Operations. This is making America less safe. And why? Because of the attempt to score domestic, political points.“