Dec. 5 (UPI) — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on Tuesday mostly dropped his boycott of military nominations, which left multiple nominees in a state of limbo for months.
Tuberville initiated the boycott in February as a protest against military rules that allow servicemembers to leave base in states that don’t allow abortion to travel to states that do.
The boycott was in response to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signing the memorandum Ensuring Access to Reproductive Health Care, which also granted soldiers leave if they required abortion services.
“I’m releasing everybody — I’ve still got a hold on, I think, 11 four-star generals, everybody else is completely released from me. Now somebody else might think… a few other people got holds on one or two or three people. But other than that, it’s over,” Tuberville told reporters.
“It was pretty much a draw,” Tuberville told reporters.
Tuberville’s boycott drew criticism from former officials who accused him of “harming military readiness.”
In May, seven former military officials sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer who said, “leaving these and many other senior positions in doubt at a time of enormous geopolitical uncertainty sends the wrong message to our adversaries and could weaken our deterrence.”
Tuberville’s announcement means that hundreds of military nominees which were previously held up can now move forward.
