Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., will allow more than 400 senior military officers' promotions to be quickly confirmed by the Senate after an 11-month standoff that resulted in no change to the Pentagon abortion policy he was protesting.
Tuberville announced Tuesday afternoon he was dropping his procedural hold on military confirmations on all but those nominated to be four-star generals and admirals. While that still leaves at least 11 officers in limbo, the vast majority of the officers whose promotions had stalled because of Tuberville will now be able to move forward.
"We didn't get the win that we wanted," Tuberville acknowledged as he announced he was largely backing down. "We've still got a bad policy. We tried to stand up for the taxpayers of this country."
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After Tuberville's announcement, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would move to confirm the released officers "as soon as possible," possibly as soon as later Tuesday.
In late February, Tuberville announced he was placing what's known as a hold on all general and flag officers nominees in an effort to pressure the Pentagon to reverse its policy of covering travel and leave for service members who seek abortions.
While a hold cannot prevent the Senate from confirming nominees, it requires the chamber to take individual roll-call votes on each nominee rather than quickly confirming them in batches in a voice vote as it typically does for noncontroversial military promotions -- effectively grinding the military promotions process to a halt.
Tuberville's hold gradually ballooned to cover more than 450 officers. For months, he refused to relent despite arguments from Democrats, some Republicans, Pentagon officials and military families that he was harming national security and punishing military families for a policy they had no control over.
But as it became increasingly clear that enough of his Republican Senate colleagues would allow a Democratic effort to circumvent him to succeed, Tuberville reversed course.
His new stance will allow one-, two- and three-star generals and admirals to be promoted under the fast-track Senate procedures typically used for military nominees.
He said he is keeping the hold on four-stars because they "need to be vetted just like everybody else."
The Pentagon welcomed Tuberville's decision, but continued to encourage him to allow quick confirmation of the four-star nominees as well. Among those whose promotions are still delayed are the nominees to be vice chiefs of the Army[2], Navy[3], Air Force and Space, and the commanders of Northern Command, Cyber Command, Space Command, Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command.
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