Senate confirms Texas Tech grad C.Q. Brown as top military officer, despite Tuberville protest

WASHINGTON — Celebrated Texas Tech graduate and General C.Q. Brown Jr. will serve as the nation's highest-ranking military officer after the U.S. Senate confirmed President Biden's nomination following a months-long holdout led by a former Red Raider football coach.

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed one military nominee to a new post on Wednesday and is set to approve two more, maneuvering around a months-long hold by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in protest over a Department of Defense policy.

Military promotions for decades have been approved at large without controversy. But Tuberville has held up about 300 promotions for senior military jobs since February in protest of a Pentagon policy that pays troops for some travel to states that provide abortions, along with some other expenses.

In remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Tuberville's blockade and said he would seek to advance the nominations of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. C.Q. Brown; the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Eric Smith, and the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George.

The Senate confirmed Brown Wednesday evening. The upper chamber is also expected to confirm George and Smith this week.

“These men should have already been confirmed. They should already be serving in their new positions,” Schumer said. “The Senate should not have to go through procedural hoops just to please one brazen and misguided Senator.”

"Senator Tuberville’s obstruction is pushing the Senate down this road and where it goes from here will depend on all of us," Schumer also said Wednesday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin congratulated Brown on his confirmation as the nation’s highest-ranking officer and criticized Tuberville for holding up promotions for hundreds of others.

“Senator Tuberville’s continued hold on hundreds of our nation's military leaders endangers our national security and military readiness,” Austin said in a statement. “It is well past time to confirm the over 300 other military nominees.”

Tuberville and some of his Republican colleagues have said Schumer could schedule individual votes on officers. Democrats have rejected that as unwieldy, and a Congressional Research Service report showed that voting on each officer would require the Senate’s sole attention for a month.

Tuberville said in remarks on Wednesday that his hold will remain in place as long as the Pentagon's abortion policy stands.

"Let’s do one at a time or change the policy back,” Tuberville said. "Let’s vote on it.”

Democrats have put holds on promotions in the past, too. Notably Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., prevented votes in 2019 for two weeks over her concern that then-President Donald Trump had retaliated against an officer who had testified in his first impeachment hearing.

About C.Q. Brown

Brown has served as the chief of the U.S. Air Force since 2020, the same year he was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, according to a news release from Texas Tech, which came out shortly after Brown's confirmation was confirmed Wednesday evening. As head of the Air Force, he became the first Black chief of a military service branch and the first Black officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff since Army Gen. Colin Powell served as its chairman from 1989 to 1993.

“I’ve had several opportunities where I was the ‘first African American to be …,’” he said in a 2020 interview with Texas Tech. “No different than my current position, each of these opportunities includes added pressure to perform, so I’m not the ‘first and last African American’ or member of a diverse background to have this opportunity, and to prove my selection was due to the content of my character and my résumé of experience, not due to any perceived reduction in standards to ensure diversity.

“Like all of our military members, I’ve always simply wanted a fair shot to compete for an opportunity. Like so many of our airmen, I have had some tough assignments or tough situations that caused me further reflection. Despite the challenges, I have a longstanding conviction that every day is a good day, just some days are better than others.”

Brown was commissioned in 1984 as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force ROTC program at Texas Tech, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He was named a distinguished alumnus of the university in 2012.

He has served in a variety of positions at the squadron and wing levels, including an assignment to the U.S. Air Force Weapons School as an F-16 Fighting Falcon Instructor. He previously served as aide-de-camp to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, director of the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff Executive Action Group and deputy director of the Operations Directorate within the U.S. Central Command. He also served as a National Defense Fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses.

Brown has commanded a fighter squadron, the U.S. Air Force Weapons School, two fighter wings and U.S. Air Forces Central Command. Prior to his current assignment, he served as the Deputy Commander, U.S. Central Command. Brown is a command pilot with more than 2,900 flying hours, including 130 combat hours.

Brown has been awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Senate OKs Texas Tech grad C.Q. Brown as top military officer