Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville has lifted his hold on military promotions for all but four-star generals and flag officers.
“I'm not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer. We just released them – about 440 of them,” Tuberville announced on Tuesday afternoon.
“They are released as we speak,” he added.
The senior senator from Alabama demands roll-call votes for the remaining 10-11 nominees. He claims that his nearly 10-month protest of the Pentagon's abortion policy had made its point.
The impasse had increasingly angered the Biden administration and lawmakers in both parties.
The New York Times has more on the one-man blockade:
The announcement came amid mounting pressure on Mr. Tuberville about his decision, announced in February, to hold up officer promotions over a new Pentagon policy that offers time off and travel reimbursement to service members seeking abortions or fertility care. His blockade, which both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill had vociferously opposed, had for months disrupted the Pentagon's ability to fill its top ranks.
Mr. Tuberville said on Tuesday that he decided to lift the blockade after senators hatched a plan to temporarily go around the chamber's rules to allow confirmation of almost all military nominees as a bloc.
“It's been a long fight,” Mr. Tuberville told reporters. “We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach.”
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