(NewsNation) — The Senate ended its year by confirming the promotions of 11 four-star generals that had been held up for months by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to protest the Pentagon’s abortion policies.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sought and received unanimous consent to confirm the promotions during Tuesday evening’s session. This move officially ended all of Tuberville’s military holds.
Earlier this month, Tuberville partially lifted a hold he had on hundreds of nominees after almost a year. The Republican had put the blockade in place hoping to force the Pentagon to repeal a policy that reimburses service members for travel expenses if they went out of state for abortion care.
Members of both parties had complained about the toll this took on service members and their families.
Following this, the Senate approved about 425 military promotions in a single stroke. President Joe Biden called the move long overdue, saying in a statement the military confirmations should never have been held up.
However, the Alabama senator held on to 11 of the highest-ranking officer promotions so as not to give in to Democrats completely.
Tuberville demanded at the time that the promotions of the 11 four-star generals go through regular order on the Senate floor. He wanted senators to vote on procedural motions to end debate and then vote again to confirm the military promotions individually.
But Schumer kept the nominees off the floor until a few days before Christmas to ramp up pressure on Tuberville to approve them by unanimous consent. If he didn’t, senators might have been stuck churning through as many as 22 separate votes on nonpartisan military nominees.
Confirming the 11 remaining four-star officers was one of the last items of 2023, and the Senate is expected to adjourn for the year on Wednesday.
“These are the 11 four-star generals who were not included in the last approval of the 300-some-odd flag officers who we did approve last time. So, these are the 11 remaining generals that have been approved,” Schumer announced on the Senate floor. “That’s good news.”
Schumer’s motion speedily approved the promotions of Air Force Gen. Kevin Schneider, Air Force Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, Navy Admiral William Houston, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, Army Gen. James Mingus, Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting, Navy Admiral James Kilby, Air Force General James Slife, Navy Admiral Stephen Koehler and Navy Rear Admiral Eric Anduze, among other nominees.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill last week giving back pay to senior military officers whose promotions had been delayed. However, the legislation still needs House approval, although this likely won’t happen until next year as the chamber has already adjourned for its holiday break.
The Associated Press and The Hill contributed to this report.
