Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain has threatened to block Pentagon nominees until the Army briefs his panel on a newly relaxed recruiting policy that would allow those with mental health issues to serve, Inside Defense reported on Tuesday.
McCain said he has been concerned on a regular basis by the lack of communication from the Trump administration on issues regarding the committee.
USA Today first reported the new policy a few days ago, which has been enacted as the armed forces try to recruit 80,000 new soldiers through September 2018.
In an attempt to meet the goal the army already has accepted more recruits who fared poorly on aptitude tests, increased the number of waivers granted for marijuana use and offered hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses.
McCain said there is no reason he should have first heard of the change in policy from a newspaper. Inside Defense reported that last month McCain had also held up several Trump nominees until he was briefed on the administration's approach to Afghanistan and Iraq.
McCain said he had serious questions about the wisdom of giving waivers to recruits with backgrounds of self-mutilation, saying that "is something that comes home to roost," according to The Daily Caller.
The Center for Military Readiness, a right-wing military policy organization, also announced its opposition to the new policy, saying the army should think seriously about why qualified recruits, as opposed to those with serious mental issues, are not signing up in sufficient quantities.
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