Sen. Tuberville scales back block of military promotions over abortion

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on Tuesday said he would no longer block bulk approval of military promotions for nominees at or under the rank of 3-star general. Roughly a dozen promotions for generals above the 4-star level will remain blocked. Tuberville’s choice not to block promotions within those ranks will streamline the approval process for hundreds of military promotions.

Why is he dropping his hold? Tuberville said in an interview last week that he planned to stop his holds on most of the nominees, saying, “We need to get them promoted.” Last week, a group of 20 Republican representatives wrote a letter to Tuberville saying they supported his nine-month hold. He had previously said he would keep the hold in place until the Pentagon discarded a policy to pay for female servicemembers to cross state lines to obtain abortions. Tuberville had said the policy violated the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the federal government from funding abortions.

Dig deeper: Read Eric Teetsel’s column in WORLD Opinions about how senators opposing Tuberville’s block were putting the military ahead of unborn babies’ lives.