Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis doubled down on his support for Sen. Tommy Tuberville as the Alabama lawmaker leads a one-man effort to block military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy.
During his appearance at the Faith and Freedom Coalition banquet in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, DeSantis was asked whether Tuberville is right to hold up military promotions.
“Yes,” DeSantis said, according to the Des Moines Register. “I support what he’s doing. First of all, what the Defense Department is doing is outside the law. They are breaking, violating the law by funding abortion tourism with tax dollars, and so when agencies do that, the Congress has to stand up and push back against it.”
Tuberville has blocked more than 300 military promotions for six months to protest the Department of Defense’s policy to reimburse military service members who are forced to travel out of state to receive abortion care.
DeSantis’ comments on Saturday are similar to remarks he made earlier this year during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, the Hill reported.
The Florida governor told Hewitt that he does not believe Tuberville should lift his hold on military promotions because “the military’s policy is not following U.S. law. They are using tax dollars.”
