A Democratic senator has placed a procedural hold on Heather Wilson’s nomination to be the next Secretary of the Air Force, meaning the issue must be resolved before the full Senate can vote and the top Air Force job can be filled. “There’s one hangup right now, one of the Democrats,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told Politico. “We’re trying to work it out.” According to Politico, McCain described the unidentified senator’s issue as one “that has to do with Air Force presence.” SASC approved Wilson’s nomination with a vote of 22 to 5 last month, though her confirmation hearing got heated early as Democratic senators questioned her ethics on future contracts because of previous issues stemming from her work as a consultant at Sandia National Laboratories. SASC Ranking member Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) each voted against Wilson. Wilson previously served as a congresswoman from New Mexico, the president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and is a 1982 Air Force Academy graduate.
Hundreds, or possibly thousands, of transgender service members have returned to work after two judges ordered preliminary injunctions blocking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ban of transgender service members and recruits. But their long-term future remains uncertain.