Senate confirms remaining senior officers and ends Tuberville protest

The Senate confirmed nearly a dozen military officers to four-star positions on Tuesday, ending Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s nearly year-long blockade of promotions for top generals and admirals.

In a last-minute reversal, Mr. Tuberville, an Alabama Republican who had protested the Pentagon’s abortion policy, agreed to drop his objections to the promotions. That allowed for quick confirmation of the officers by unanimous consent — and allowed senators to wrap up an important business that stood between them and a holiday break.

“These eleven flag officers have now been approved and join the rest of their colleagues,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, said in the Senate. “That is good news.”

Later Tuesday evening, the Senate also voted to pass a bill that would extend the Federal Aviation Administration’s authorization through early March, giving Congress time to continue working on a five-year extension to improve air travel and safety while also modernize the airport infrastructure.

Mr. Tuberville had held up the promotions of senior military officials to protest a Pentagon policy that ensured that service members who had to travel long distances to obtain an abortion or other reproductive health care would be given time off and their travel expenses reimbursed to get. The Defense Department adopted the policy after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, creating a patchwork of abortion laws across the country.

Mr. Tuberville had long insisted that the Pentagon would have to reverse the policy before relenting. But under pressure from other Republicans, he agreed this month to allow the bulk of the promotions to proceed, and the Senate promptly confirmed more than 440 service members as a bloc to senior positions. Under that arrangement, Mr. Tuberville had continued to object to the promotions of the eleven top generals and admirals still pending before the Senate.

The list of four-star officers confirmed on Tuesday includes the heads of the main combatant commands. They included Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, who will lead U.S. Northern Command; Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, who will take over U.S. Cyber ​​Command; and Space Force Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, who will head U.S. Space Command.

The Senate also confirmed that officers will serve as vice chiefs of staff for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Operations. The Senate had voted this year to appoint the top uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force, as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all of whose promotions had come under Mr. Tuberville’s rule.

“It’s a very strong group,” Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska, said in an interview before the vote. Mr. Sullivan was among leading Republicans who pressed Mr. Tuberville in recent weeks to drop his objections.