Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has been nominated to serve as the newest GOP member on the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress.
Tuberville, who unseated Democrat and former SASC member Doug Jones, will be the only new Republican member to join the committee.
“I am honored to be selected to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee and represent the nearly half a million active-duty military, National Guard, reservists, and veterans who call Alabama home,” Tuberville, the former head football coach at Auburn University, said in a statement. “From Mobile to Muscle Shoals, the development of a strong national defense service is synonymous with Alabama – and we are rightly proud of that. The work of this committee is critical to ensuring our military has the resources it needs to protect our country against current and future threats, and it’s our responsibility to give our servicemen and women the support they deserve to ensure our military remains the greatest fighting force in the world.”
On the armed services panel, Tuberville noted he will represent several critical installations located in Alabama, to include Maxwell Air Force Base, Ft. Rucker, Redstone Arsenal, Anniston Army Depot, and Dannelly Field.
“Each location serves a unique and critical purpose from securing our skies to ensuring our safety at sea. Additionally, the Port of Mobile is central to our maritime defense and shipbuilding industry, and Huntsville, where Space Command will soon call home, leads the nation in the development of aerospace defense through surveillance and rocket programs,” Tuberville said.
The Air Force announced in January it picked Redstone Arsenal in Alabama as its preferred location for U.S. Space Command’s headquarters, drawing scrutiny from Colorado politicians who argued Peterson Air Force Base in their state had been considered the best location (Defense Daily, Jan. 13).
Tuberville’s assignment to SASC must now be ratified by the Republican Conference and the full Senate.
Earlier this week, Senate Democrats nominated Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) to serve on SASC (Defense Daily, Feb. 3).