Despite claims of military "holds" by Senate Democrats, the Biden administration, and even some Republicans, the Senate again moved a confirmation Thursday.
Gen. Randy George was confirmed as the next Army Chief of Staff by a 96-1 vote, which included a "yes" by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who has been chided for forcing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to vote through confirmations one by one instead of en masse.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a staunch conservative, was the only senator to vote against George's confirmation.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Gen. Charles Quinton Brown Jr. as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, putting him in place to succeed Gen. Mark Milley, who will retire at the end of the month.
Brown's confirmation on a 83-11 vote, months after President Joe Biden nominated him for the post, comes as Democrats try to maneuver around holds placed on hundreds of nominations by Tuberville.
Tuberville has objected to the Pentagon's abortion policy that pays service members for travel to get abortions after the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion law back to the states.
"We called them out, and they blinked," Tuberville told reporters Wednesday, pointing to Senate Democrats' refusal to address the issue of why the Pentagon is using U.S. defense funding to pay for travel.
While Tuberville is holding up hundreds of confirmations, he has been steadfast in rebuking Schumer for a lack of will to bring the confirmations before the Senate individually.
"So, to be clear, my hold is still in place," Tuberville told the Senate floor Wednesday. "The hold will remain in place as long as the Pentagon's illegal abortion policy remains in place.
"If the Pentagon lifts the policy, then I will lift my hold. It's easy as that. That's been my position from the very beginning."
Still, Tuberville voted to confirm George, standing by his conviction he is not holding up the individual confirmations, just the mass confirmation process to skirt congressional duty to vote.
"Democrats can't have it both ways," Tuberville said. "Either they will confirm these nominees through regular order, or they can stop complaining about acting officials.
"Democrats say this is a large backlog of nominees. They say it will take a long time. Well, I agree, it's been a big backlog."