The Senate on Thursday confirmed three top military nominees, over the objection of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) blanket hold on military confirmations.
The Senate voted 95-1 to confirm Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Gen. David Allvin as Air Force Chief of Staff, with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan) as the sole opponent.
Franchetti and Allvin were serving as the current vice chiefs of their respective services before the vote.
Senators also approved Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to be the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, its second highest officer, in an 86-0 vote.
The third vote came after commandant Gen. Eric Smith was hospitalized in an emergency on Sept. 29. Media reports say Smith had an apparent heart attack over the weekend.
With these confirmations, the full Joint Chiefs of Staff are confirmed for the first time since July, amid Tuberville’s blanket hold on military promotions over his objection to the Defense Department policy that provides leave and travel reimbursement for service members traveling out of state to seek abortion services. His hold continues to block over 370 other officers.
Six Republicans criticized Tuberville during the voting process as they tried to put forward 61 individual nominations for a vote of unanimous consent, which he rejected each time. He has said the Senate could go around his hold by proceeding with each nominee individually with a full vote, like these three.
Normally the Senate confirms large groups of nominees at the same time because to otherwise confirm them one by one would take up much of the Senate’s time.
Franchetti has been the VCNO and has been serving as acting CNO since the previous CNO, Adm. Michael Gilday, retired in August (Defense Daily, Aug. 14).
President Biden first nominated her to be the top Navy officer in July. She is now the first woman to lead the Navy and also the first woman serving on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Defense Daily, July 21).
In September, Franchetti said it will take years for DoD promotion delays to fully recover, once Tuberville’s blanket hold lifts. She said at the three-star level will will take three to four months to move people around, but years for other promotions in the pipeline to catch up (Defense Daily, Sept. 14).
Allvin has also served as acting chief for the Air Force since the last leader, Gen. Charles Q. Brown was sworn in as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in late September.
The Navy and Air Force now have no vice chiefs confirmed, with the successors still held up by Tuberville’s hold.
Biden has nominated deputy commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command Vice Adm. Jim Kilby to be the next VCNO and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Lt. Gen. James Slife as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Once sworn in, Mahoney will become acting commandant because Smith is hospitalized. He will relieve Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, who has served as acting commandant since Smith was incapacitated.