Duckworth: Expediting Mattis waiver ‘dangerous’

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Thursday said it was “dangerous” for Republicans to speed up congressional approval for retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense secretary.

“Despite some of our policy disagreements, I believe General Mattis’ qualifications and experience merit thoughtful consideration, but this dangerous procedural gamesmanship only serves to undermine his legitimacy leading our Armed Forces,” she said in a statement.

Duckworth, an Iraq War combat veteran, emphasized the need for Congress to debate the merits of eroding civilian control of the military.

“The American people deserve a transparent and thorough debate on the merits of eroding civilian leadership of the strongest military this world has ever known,” Duckworth said.

“Needlessly expediting this process abdicates Congress’ responsibility to fully and fairly consider the importance of the military’s subservience to civilians,” she added.

The House on Thursday approved a short-term spending measure that Republicans insisted should include provisions that would speed up an exemption for Mattis, who would otherwise not be able to serve as Defense secretary.

Current law requires military officials be out of uniform for seven years before leading the Pentagon. Mattis left the military three years ago, so he’d need a waiver from Congress to serve.

While the spending measure does not include a waiver for Mattis, it requires the Senate Armed Services Committee to take up a change to the rules within five days of it being introduced, or else it would go straight to the Senate floor. The measure also limits debate to 10 hours.

Duckworth noted it was the first time she had voted against a short-term spending bill, but the incoming Democratic senator pushed back on rushing to action.

“We should not make such important Constitutional decisions that fundamentally change the relationship between our military and civilian leadership so lightly or risk compromising American people’s faith in the next Defense Secretary’s ability to lead our troops in wartime.”

Critics of Mattis’ nomination say having a general assume leadership of the Defense Department threatens a long-standing principle of civilian control of the military.

So far, two Democrats have said they would not support the waiver for Mattis — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Rep. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), who is a former Marine and Iraq War veteran.

“Attaching this provision at the last-second, behind closes doors in must-pass government funding legislation is not the appropriate way to do this. They should not be allowed to hide behind the same procedural gimmicks the President-elect won his election campaigning against,” Duckworth said. 

This story was updated at 3:45 p.m.