By MARY CLARE JALONICK, TARA COPP and LOLITA BALDOR
WASHINGTON — The Senate circumvented a hold by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Thursday and confirmed Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, making her the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Franchetti’s historic confirmation as the chief of naval operations comes as Tuberville has drawn bipartisan criticism for holding up almost 400 military nominations in an effort to protest Pentagon abortion policy. In a remarkable display, several Republican senators angrily held the floor for more than four hours on Wednesday evening and called up 61 of the nominations for votes, praising each nominee for their military service. Tuberville showed no signs of letting up, standing and objecting to each one.
The Senate confirmed Franchetti with an overwhelming 95-1 vote. Senators are scheduled to confirm two other top officers on Thursday — Gen. David Allvin to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to serve as assistant commandant for the U.S. Marine Corps.
If confirmed, Mahoney could immediately step in as acting commandant, temporarily taking over after Gen. Eric Smith, the commandant, was hospitalized on Sunday after suffering a medical emergency at his official residence in Washington.
Smith, who is listed in stable condition and is recovering, was confirmed to the top job last month, but he had been holding down two high-level posts for several months because of Tuberville’s holds.
When Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the vote this week on Mahoney’s nomination to be assistant commandant, he said Smith’s sudden medical emergency is “precisely the kind of avoidable emergency that Sen. Tuberville has provoked through his reckless holds.”
Tuberville has challenged Schumer to put each nomination on the floor — a process that could take weeks or months as each…
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