Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) has placed a block on Adm. Daryl Caudle, President Donald Trump's nominee for the top position in the Navy, to try to demand an extra benefit for his state, Politico reported Thursday.
Sullivan "is objecting to the Senate confirmation due to issues that have nothing to do with Caudle. The four-star admiral sailed through the Senate Armed Services Committee vote without any issues," noted the report. Instead, Sullivan's hold "is a way for the Alaska lawmaker to put pressure on the Navy so the Pentagon agrees to reopen the long-shuttered Adak Naval Air Station, located in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska."
Adak Naval Air Station, which was established during the Second World War to aid in the fight against Japanese forces and later used for nuclear bomber missions, was closed in 1997 following the conclusion of the Cold War.
"Sullivan has said that expanding the U.S. military presence around Alaska is critical to deter Russian and Chinese incursions in the region, and he has obtained endorsements for reopening the station from some top military commanders," noted the report. "While Sullivan pushed to include Adak funding in the GOP’s recently passed megabill, the law’s language says only that $115 million is for 'exploration and development of existing Arctic infrastructure.'"
This comes at a moment when the Senate GOP is already frustrated with the slow pace of confirmations for Trump's executive nominees, which they largely blame on obstruction by Democrats.
"We're at the point now where there's well over 160 confirmations to be held on the floor, and Democrats are forcing us to burn the clock out on each of them," Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) complained on Newsmax this week. "We'll never catch up on President Trump's administration when it comes to confirmations unless we can change the rules and expedite the confirmations of these nominees."
One of the most high-profile confirmations this week was the GOP's party-line vote for Joe Kent, a far-right conspiracy theorist with ties to white nationalists, to serve as head of the National Counterterrorism Center.