Tuberville's tantrum ends as Senate confirms military promotions

The Senate wrapped up 2023 with a win Tuesday when Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville finally ended his tantrum and allowed the Senate to confirm the last of the military promotions he’d been blocked since February. It didn’t even take a fight at the end, or major concessions to Tuberville. He just caved. All 11 of the remaining four-star officers, including the leaders of major combatant command and vice chiefs of staff for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Operations, were approved by a single voice vote.

Tuberville imposed the blanket hold on military promotions to protest a Pentagon policy that allows paid leave for service members to travel out of state for abortions. By early December, when he dropped his opposition to the lower-ranking officer promotions, around 450 officers’ lives had been thrown into limbo as their reassignments were on hold. He refused to relent on the final 11 simply because he could.