Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) has placed a hold on the promotion of an Air Force colonel advocating for military promotions based on race and gender, not merit.
Col. George H. Sebren, who has been recommended for promotion to Brigadier General in the Air Force, authored a 2017 research paper lamenting the creation of “a general officer cohort that severely lacks diversity.” He argues that Air Force promotions are inherently racist and sexist because they were not promoting the correct percentage of officers who were non-white or female.
That does not sit well with Banks, who has fought wokeness since arriving in Washington.
“Senator Banks has serious concerns about military officers who have championed DEI and wokeness in the military and has exercised his authority as a senator to place a hold on this promotion,” a Banks spokesperson told Breitbart News.
A hold on a nomination is a communication to the majority or minority leader that a Senator would object to approving the nomination by unanimous consent. In the modern Senate, where the calendar is one of the greatest impediments, most military promotions are confirmed through unanimous consent to bypass the timely process required under regular order.
A single objection, as the name suggests, prohibits the unanimous consent process from going forward. Except in rare circumstances, Senators defer to their leaders to bring unanimous consent requests to advance military nominees for higher rank, and leaders respect holds placed by their members.
Sebren – Air War College Paper by Sebren by Breitbart News on Scribd
Banks has been a leader in Congress fighting back against “wokeness,” founding the Anti-Woke Caucus in 2023 while serving in the House of Representatives.
In June 2023, after the Supreme Court ruled that race-based admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina were unconstitutional, Banks told Breitbart News that Congress should ban race-based preferences in the federal government, contracting, and the military.
“We must recognize that every American should be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin,” Banks said at the time to Breitbart News. “Affirmative action is just as wrong in federal hiring, contracting, and the military as it was at our universities. Congress should ban race-based preferences throughout the entire federal government.”
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye
