Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) compared the hours he worked as a football coach to that of a top Marine who collapsed after being overworked due to the senator’s monthslong hold on military promotions.
Tuberville has held up more than 350 military promotions for nine months and vowed to continue unless the Department of Defense dropped its new policy of reimbursing service members who are forced to travel out of state for abortion services.
His hold came under more scrutiny this week after Politico reported that Gen. Eric Smith, the Marine Corps chief was hospitalized due to a “medical emergency” Sunday. Smith reportedly filled two posts at the Marine Corp from July until his confirmation as commandant in September.
Sources told the New York Times that Smith had a heart attack.
Tuberville dismissed Gen. Smith’s workload when CNN’s Manu Raju caught up with him on Thursday at the Capitol.
“He’s got 2,000 people who work for him, ok? And somebody said he’s working 18 hours a day. Jack Reed blamed me for his heart attack. Come on, give me a break,” Tuberville said, referring to Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed, D-R.I.
“This guy’s gonna work 18, 20 hours a day no matter what,” Tuberville continued. “That’s what we do. You know, I did that for years because you gotta get the job done. You try to do everything yourself. So we’re not gonna go down that road.”
Before Tuberville was elected to the Senate in 2020 he was a football coach for two decades. He has no military service experience.
