After months of waiting, the U.S. Senate has finally accepted 11 military promotions to the rank of four stars.
They had been stopped before by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who had concerns about Pentagon abortion policy that were not tied to the bills.
Tuberville had stopped all military awards since February as a protest against a policy at the Pentagon that pays for service members to travel to get an abortion.
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He dropped his holds on everyone named for promotions except for four-star general earlier in December, but he didn’t get any policy changes in return.
The Pentagon said that the 11 promotions in question included those of the leaders of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces, Air Combat Command, U.S. Northern Command, Cyber Command, and Space Command.
“All of those positions are key senior leadership positions,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the Defense Department, told reporters earlier this month. “That includes the vice chiefs of the different services.”
“Vital and critical organizations, all of which require experienced senior leaders in those positions,” said Ryder.
At one point during the blockade, there were more than 450 people behind! Both Republicans and Democrats were critical of Tuberville because they thought it hurt the readiness of the military.
The full lifting of the blockade by Tuberville happened at a time when politicians were eager to get home for the holidays and there were no signs that the military’s abortion policies would change.
Tuberville defended his blockade earlier in December, saying that he was just trying to “stand up for the taxpayers of this country” against what he called a “bad policy.”