Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, announced on Tuesday that he would lift his blockade of nearly all the military promotions he had delayed for months in protest of a Pentagon policy ensuring abortion access for service members.
Mr. Tuberville said he had lifted his holds on about 440 military promotions. “Everybody but the 10 or 11 four-stars,” he said. “Those will continue.”
The announcement came amid mounting pressure on Mr. Tuberville about his decision, announced in February, to hold up officer promotions over a new Pentagon policy that offers time off and travel reimbursement to service members seeking abortions or fertility care. His blockade, which both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill had vociferously opposed, had for months disrupted the Pentagon’s ability to fill its top ranks.
Mr. Tuberville said on Tuesday that he decided to lift the blockade after senators hatched a plan to temporarily go around the chamber’s rules to allow confirmation of almost all military nominees as a bloc.
“It’s been a long fight,” Mr. Tuberville told reporters. “We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach.”
Carl Hulse contributed reporting.