Gillibrand, Colleagues Introduce Bicameral Legislation To Depoliticize Military Promotions

Gillibrand, Colleagues Introduce Bicameral Legislation To Depoliticize Military Promotions

Oct 5, 2026

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined a bicameral group of colleagues to introduce the Military Officer Promotion Integrity Act. This bill would protect qualified military officers from being arbitrarily removed from promotion consideration for ideological or political reasons by establishing clear standards, basic due process, and meaningful independent review.

"Officers who have earned a promotion deserve to be judged on their qualifications and nothing else," said Senator Gillibrand. "Secretary Hegseth has pushed out our best and brightest, cutting some of the most highly trained, most qualified people in our armed services and leaving our military rudderless. I will keep fighting to curb Secretary Hegseth's ability to jeopardize our national security and military preparedness and ensure our military is led by qualified officers capable of keeping Americans safe."

Defense Secretary Hegseth has repeatedly blocked women and minority officers from promotions and criticized diversity initiatives in the military. The new legislation reins in Secretary Hegseth's inconsistent and politicized leadership and mandates that an officer can only be removed from promotion recommendations based on the following criteria:

• The officer engaged in misconduct;
• Newly discovered, material adverse information unavailable to the promotion selection board materially affects the qualifications of the officer for promotion;
• The officer no longer satisfies statutory qualifications for promotion; or
• Removal is required for reasons of national security or military necessity

Senator Gillibrand has been a leading voice in holding Secretary Hegseth accountable for his reckless leadership of the Department of Defense. During his confirmation hearing, she challenged his previous denigration of women in the military and has repeatedly called for his resignation, most recently after eight sailors in the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide. In April, after reports that Hegseth blocked or delayed promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers, she called for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the matter.

In addition to Senator Gillibrand, the legislation is cosponsored in the Senate by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI). It is cosponsored in the House by U.S. Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06) and Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10).

The bill is endorsed by VoteVets, Protect Democracy, the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), and Retired Major General Steve Lepper, co-founder of the Former JAG Working Group.

The full text of the bill is available here.

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