Despite Tuberville delay, U.S. Senate confirms 2 nominees for Joint Chiefs of Staff

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to confirm two of President Joe Biden's appointees for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The confirmations follow months of delay caused by Sen. Tommy Tuberville's, R-Ala., boycott of nominees over his opposition to abortion.

Tuberville initiated the boycott due to military rules that allow people in the service to leave their bases in states that don't allow abortion to travel to states that do provide abortion.

The holdup on nominees for the Joint Chiefs of Staff was broken by a procedural move from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who filed a cloture motion, which ended deliberation on the nominees, Wednesday.

Schumer said the cloture motion was "not a path the vast majority of senators on either side of the aisle want to go down but Sen. Tuberville is forcing us to confront this obstruction head on."

On Wednesday, Gen. CQ Brown was confirmed to take on the role of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The confirmation comes shortly before current Chairman Gen. Mark Milley is required to depart his post.

Gen. Eric Smith was confirmed to lead the Marines by a 96-0 vote. Gen. Randy George was also confirmed to serve as Chief of Staff for the Army.

Gen. Smith served in the Iraq war in the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and in the 8th Marine Regiment in Afghanistan.

Gen. George graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1988 and served as a lieutenant in the 101st Airborne during Operation Desert Storm.

While the confirmation is a significant breakthrough, hundreds of military nominees are still stuck in limbo because of Tuberville's actions.