Senate formally ends Tuberville blockade with confirmation of four-star generals

A 10-month blockade on the promotions of hundreds of military officers came to a formal end Tuesday after the Senate confirmed nearly a dozen four-star generals.

The Senate confirmed the 11 nominees, among the most senior officials at the Pentagon, as lawmakers anxiously prepared to depart Washington for the Christmas recess. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who held up the promotions over the Defense Department’s abortion travel policy, had insisted on time-consuming votes for each but ultimately relented.

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The generals were confirmed Tuesday evening without objection by voice vote.

Tuberville already had lifted most of his holds earlier this month, bending to pressure from Republican defense hawks considering a Democratic resolution to bypass the blockade. However, he demanded that stand-alone votes still be held for four-star generals.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced the nominees would be approved this week, setting the stage for a marathon of votes — the Senate requires two votes for each promotion, one of which is procedural.

But in an anticlimactic end to the saga, Tuberville backed down from even those holds. Schumer cleared the nominees in a mostly empty chamber.

In total, more than 400 nominees were approved this month, relieving pressure on the Pentagon after officials warned the blockade was affecting military readiness.

Tuberville had signaled earlier in the day that he was open to speedy confirmation on the final 11, but Senate leaders were not sure what course Tuberville would take until Tuesday. He was absent from the chamber when Schumer called up the promotions.

The confirmations do not close out Senate business for the year. Schumer announced from the floor that the final votes would be on Wednesday.

The chamber still needs to tackle a short-term extension of the Federal Aviation Administration’s authorities before a Dec. 31 deadline. Separately, a vote on the defense supplemental that would provide more than $60 billion in funding for Ukraine will be delayed until January after negotiators failed to reach a deal on border reforms.

Tuesday’s Pentagon promotions finally allow Republicans to move past a dispute that pitted the party’s support for the military against its opposition to abortion. For months, GOP senators walked that tightrope, expressing support for Tuberville’s aims even as many disagreed with the tactics.

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Tuberville’s blockade did not prevent the Senate from approving the nominees, which are ordinarily approved without controversy in large batches, but it did present a burdensome obstacle for Schumer, who would have needed to waste valuable floor time moving them one by one.

Tuberville relented from that demand with the Pentagon’s policy, which pays for the travel expenses of servicewomen’s abortions, still in place.