(Washington) The US Senate on Thursday approved the nomination of Lisa Franchetti as head of the Navy, the 59-year-old admiral becoming the first woman to hold this position and join the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Admiral Franchetti, whose appointment as head of the US Navy was confirmed by 95 votes to one, has in her career held positions of various responsibility, from commander of a guided missile destroyer to number 2 in operations naval. She also served as deputy commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa.
She was confirmed Thursday as navy chief, a position she already held on an interim basis.
Hundreds of promotions and confirmations of American military officials have been blocked for months in the Senate, by the action of a single elected Republican, Senator Tommy Tuberville, who intends to protest against the Pentagon’s policy which he considers too favorable to military personnel who wish to have an abortion.
Indeed, in the Senate, only one senator (out of 100) has the capacity to block the rapid approval of a nomination for a federal position. The 99 other elected officials can then get around this obstacle by organizing a series of votes lifting the blockage.
But the problem posed by Mr. Tuberville is special because of the tradition of confirming high military positions in groups and unanimously by senators. To overturn the blockage, a roll-call vote would have to be held on each named officer, a laborious process that would take months.
Due to her high rank and the importance of her position, Lisa Franchetti benefited from an individual vote.