OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
6:05 PM – Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama announced that he would lift his blanket hold for Senate votes to verify military promotions.
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On Tuesday, Tuberville (R-Ala.) declared that he would drop the bulk of his holds, resulting in the end of a months-long military campaign.
The Senate verified over 400 military nominees on Tuesday afternoon after Tuberville announced the news.
Tuberville revealed to reporters on Tuesday that he had “lifted his hold on all military promotions at three-star rank and below,” which totaled more than 425 promotions.
“I’m releasing everybody. I still got a hold on, I think, 11 four-star generals. Everybody else is completely released from me.” Tuberville explained to reporters. “But other than that, it’s over.”
“It’s been a long fight, we fought hard,” Tuberville added after announcing his decision. “We just released them.”
The hold, which Tuberville initially started in February, covered all senior military promotions and entangled hundreds of officers in its web. Republicans put more pressure on Tuberville to lift the hold as officers had complained about its impact on military morale, readiness, and the escalating war in the Middle East.
Later, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke to the Senate floor in order to verify all 425 of those nominees collectively. He also expressed that those involved in the military and their families are now able to “breathe a sigh of relief.”
However, Schumer then targeted Tuberville, bringing up his 10-month hold, claiming it “risked national security while putting military families through a pointless and gravely damaging ordeal.”
Schumer also further advised other senators against initiating a similar tactic in the future.
“Let this incident be a warning,” Schumer said. “No one — no one — should attempt this in the Senate again. The senior senator from Alabama has nothing to show for his 10 months of delay.”
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden stated: “Confirmations are long overdue, and should never have been held up in the first place.”
“In the end, this was all pointless,” Biden said, adding that “Tuberville, and the Republicans who stood with him, needlessly hurt hundreds of servicemembers and military families and threatened our national security — all to push a partisan agenda. I hope no one forgets what he did.”
Tuberville had been delaying military nominations in opposition to a Defense Department policy that reimburses service members for medical expenses incurred while traveling for abortions. The policy remains in effect.
In response to Tuberville’s hold, Schumer stated that the Senate “will work to confirm the rest of the nominee… soon.”
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