Tuberville suggests he may drop remaining military holds

Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Tuesday suggested that he would potentially end his remaining holds on Pentagon nominees as the year comes to a close.

"It just depends on how they do it. You know, sooner or later we're gonna let them go through, you know? I've given 99 percent of them. But you'd think they would say OK, what are we gonna do to get these last 11? I've heard from nobody," he told Politico.

The senator had, for months this year, blocked the speedy confirmation of hundreds of military nominees to protest the Department of Defense's policy of providing paid leave to military servicemembers to obtain an abortion. While he could not unilaterally block the promotions, he was able to block the batch confirmation of nominees by unanimous consent, forcing the chamber to hold individual votes on each.

He ended most holds this month without extracting a policy change from the Pentagon. Still in place, however, are his holds on a group of would-be four-star officers. In speaking to the outlet, the Alabama senator said "we're to the end of the year" as justifying a potential end to the holds.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has held the Senate in session for an additional week to prolong border security negotiations and has announced plans to bring the remaining nominees up for a vote this week.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.