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…
