Senate confirms Franchetti as CNO

The Senate voted 95-1 today to confirm Adm. Lisa Franchetti as the next chief of naval operations, breaking a months-long hold that left Franchetti serving as the acting CNO while awaiting senate confirmation.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) was the only senator to vote against the nomination. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) was among those who voted for it.

Franchetti was nominated for the position in July and has been performing the duties of both the Navy’s No.1 and No. 2 positions since previous CNO, Adm. Michael Gilday, reached the end of his term in August. Franchetti is the first woman to become the Navy’s top officer.

Tuberville maintains a blanket hold on over 300 military nominations and promotions in opposition to the Pentagon’s leave and travel policies for servicemembers seeking abortion services. The hold prevents the Senate from using its usual process for approving nominees in large blocks.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) filed cloture on Franchetti’s nomination on Tuesday along with two additional senior military nominations -- Gen. David Allvin for Air Force chief of staff and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney for assistant Marine Corps commandant. The Senate is likely to vote on the additional two officials in the coming days.

In September, Schumer used the same workaround, holding individual votes to confirm Gen. Eric Smith as Marine Corps commandant, Air Force Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Randy George as Army chief of staff.

An August Congressional Research Service report found it would take the Senate more than 30 days to confirm all the nominees impacted by Tuberville’s hold if lawmakers worked 24 hours per day without stopping. It would take the Senate 89 days if lawmakers worked eight hours a day on just the nominations.