Coach Tommy Tuberville routed in a 0-436 loss after the senator failed to prevent a single military promotion
The Senate has confirmed every military promotion previously held up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville.
Tuberville conceded earlier in the month that nothing came out of his monthslong hold.
A GOP senator continues to block a handful of officers from promotion over their views on diversity.
With the Senate confirming the promotions of the final 11 remaining military officers on Tuesday night, it's now official: Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the storied former Auburn football coach, went 0-436 in his bid to prevent defense officials from getting promoted to try and get the US military to adjust its abortion policies.
Tuberville's hold began in February, months after the Department of Defense adjusted its policies to allow service members to get reimbursed when traveling out of state to receive abortion-related services in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to dismantle decades of abortion-access precedent in mid-2022.
The vast majority of promotions — 425 — occurred on December 5 after Tuberville finally relented on his block, though he still ensured that 11 four-star officers' promotions remained in jeopardy until Tuesday when he ultimately acquiesced to the demands from Democrats and an increasing number of members from his own party.
Despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and a slew of other Senate Republicans protesting against Tuberville's hold, it was only the Democrats in the Senate Rules Committee who voted to advance a resolution in November that would've circumvented the block.
When lifting the bulk of the withheld promotions earlier in December, Tuberville admitted to reporters that the hold was all for naught: The Department of Defense did not change a single rule or policy as a result of his actions.
"We didn't get the win that we wanted," Tuberville said. "We've still got the bad policy."
Tuberville's hold may be over, but one Republican senator is still blocking a handful of promotions for an unrelated reason: diversity initiatives.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, the Missouri legislator behind the hold, has spent much of 2023 railing against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in all facets of government.
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