Tuberville suggests he may end his blockade of 4-star general confirmations

Amid increasing pressure from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) is now indicating that he is planning to officially end his blockade of the highest-ranking military leadership nominees still pending US Senate confirmation.

According to a Tuesday report in Politico, Tuberville simply said "we're to the end of the year" when explaining the reasoning behind his lean toward ending his month-long hold. The statement comes after Tuberville previously agreed to allow several hundred other confirmations to move through the Senate while insisting on keeping the blockade for several four-star generals.

"You know, sooner or later we're gonna let them go through, you know? I've given 99 percent of them. But did you think they would say okay, what are we gonna do with the last 11? I've heard from nobody," Tuberville said.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) previously said that he would not be sending senators home for the holiday recess until the remaining 11 military nominees were confirmed. CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju tweeted Tuesday that holding an individual up-or-down vote on each of the remaining appointments would take roughly 22 hours of debate, but that if he chose to end his hold, Tuberville could allow unanimous consent and get all remaining nominees confirmed all at once.

For the better part of 2023, Tuberville has taken advantage of a Senate rule that allows for one member to singlehandedly hold up any Senate confirmation for an indefinite period of time. This has hampered US military leadership in the midst of global crises like Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's ongoing threats to Taiwan's sovereignty and Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza.

The Alabama Republican said his blockade was out of protest of a Pentagon policy that covers the cost for service members to obtain abortions out of state if they live in a state that criminalized the procedure. However, Tuberville appears poised to lose that fight with his hold coming to a close without the Pentagon changing its policy.

Tuberville's freezing of the confirmation process for top-ranking military leadership appointees has angered both Democrats and Republicans, and arguably contributed to a military leader's health scare this fall. In late October, Marine Commandant Gen. Eric Smith — a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack. The Marine Corps Times reported that Smith had been forced to effectively take on two jobs, as his would-be assistant commandant had yet to be confirmed by the Senate due to Tuberville's hold. Smith said the increased workload was "not sustainable."

READ MORE: Here's why Tuberville 'caved': report