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WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday voted to make Gen. Randy A. George the next Army chief of staff, confirming the second senior military nominee in as many days whose promotion had been stalled by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) amid a prolonged dispute over a Pentagon abortion policy.
While the 96-1 vote allows George to officially step into the position - he’s been serving as the acting Army chief of staff since August - it leaves more than 300 other senior officers ensnared in Tuberville’s months-long hold on military promotions with no clear path to advancement.
Typically, senior officer promotions are approved in blocs by the Senate through unanimous consent to avoid lengthy floor debates and the politicization of votes around military commanders. But Tuberville has utilized Senate rules to block swift approval of such promotions.
He doubled down on his promise Wednesday night to continue with the virtual blockade after Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) chose to peel away three senior military nominations for individual votes under the chamber’s cloture rules. Among them was George.
On Wednesday night, the Senate confirmed Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after Schumer teed up an individual vote on his nomination. Schumer’s move helped the Senate avoid the embarrassing prospect of a temporary administrator filling the Pentagon’s most prestigious post.
Schumer also announced Wednesday that the Senate would try to move ahead with an individual confirmation vote on Gen. Eric M. Smith to take over the Marine Corps. The Senate is scheduled to hold votes to advance and finalize Smith’s nomination later Thursday.
Ahead of the vote on George, Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh said that, with Brown and George confirmed, Tuberville’s holds are affecting 317 nominations and 313 senior officers as of Thursday. Additional names will be added to the list as the year goes on, with about three-quarters of the Defense Department’s 852 generals and admirals affected by year’s end, Singh said.