Hundreds of senior military officer promotions could be stalled after a Republican senator vowed to slow down Pentagon nominations — including those of generals and admirals — over the department's new travel and leave policies for service members seeking abortions.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in a Friday statement said he will “hold all Department of Defense (DoD) civilian, flag and general officer nominations that come before the U.S. Senate” because of the Pentagon's “radical plan to facilitate thousands of abortions a year with taxpayer dollars.”
While a single senator cannot prevent confirmations, placing a hold requires the Senate to use valuable floor time to hold lengthy roll call votes on uncontroversial nominees who could otherwise be confirmed in a voice vote.
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And while it has become common for senators to place holds on civilian nominees over political differences, the threat to slow flag and general officer promotions is rare and could significantly gum up the works of the Senate since the upper chamber typically processes such nominees in bulk with voice votes.
A spokesperson for Tuberville confirmed to Military.com that the senator's holds still stood Tuesday and apply to all nominees for one-star general and admiral and above.
The Senate is charged with confirming all military promotions for O-4s and above, though Tuberville's hold…
