Who Is Mike Lee?

My VIP for this week is Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) who has an outstanding knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws.

The U.S. House of Representatives added several amendments to an $875 defense bill before passing it last Friday. The amendments, if included in the bill that becomes a law, would change policies at the Pentagon that include issues about transgender, diversity, and abortion. The bill was passed mostly on party lines. Suzanne Bates wrote the following in an article published in The Deseret News. 

One of the amendments added to the bill would block the Department of Defense from paying for service members to travel to receive abortions, a policy introduced after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade….

The issue of the military paying for abortion-related travel has been contentious in the Senate, where Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, has for several months blocked the confirmation of military promotions over the policy.

Tuberville’s blockade could slow President Joe Biden’s choice for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top position in the military, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a former F-16 pilot in the Air Force, who had his Senate confirmation hearing this week.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee encouraged his fellow Republican senators to support Tuberville’s actions in the Senate, which have so far kept around 265 nominations from moving forward.

“Senate Republicans should support – not criticize -- @Sen Tuberville in his efforts to defend a law (10 USC 1093) prohibiting the use of @DeptofDefense funds to perform abortions,” he wrote on Twitter.

The federal law cited by Lee prohibits the Pentagon from paying for abortions, except in cases where the life of the mother is at risk or the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

The Pentagon said in February it would pay for service members to travel to receive abortions if they live in states where access to abortions is restricted….

But Lee says Tuberville is doing the right thing.

Secretary Austin “could end this standoff TODAY simply by halting his indefensible abortion policy, the sole purpose of which is to circumvent federal law,” Lee said.

Another reason for Lee being my VIP is the fact that his name is on a list for Supreme Court justice released today by presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy described Lee and the other men and women on his list as being “committed to our Constitution, the rule of law, and individual liberty.” Lee certainly knows the Constitution and would make an excellent justice. However, we need people like Lee in Congress to protect and preserve the Constitution through legislative means.