Will Tuberville end military holds before high-stakes vote?

According to Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville is preparing to end his blockade of military promotions.

Tuberville (R-Auburn) has maintained procedural holds on unanimous consent of military promotions over the Department of Defense’s policy of paying for travel expenses for members of the military seeking an abortion.

NEWS—Tuberville told Senate R’s in closed-door lunch: “Listen, everyone. I got y’all into this mess. I’m gonna get you out.”

For first time, Tuberville vows to end military promotions standoff *before* Schumer puts Rules resolution on floor—to avoid putting R’s in tough spot.

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) November 28, 2023

Tuberville updated reporters on Wednesday saying he would like to see a resolution to this issue sooner rather than later.

“I would like to get this over with,” Tuberville said. “We’re continuing to work from behind the scenes to try to keep this abortion policy in the House version of the NDAA, where it can stay in the Senate and where we can get it voted on and passed. I would immediately drop the holds. That’s my first prerogative. The second one is I don’t want to change the rules of the Senate. I mean, that would be devastating down the line.”

This would be a change from what Tuberville told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday: “Really nothing has changed, we haven’t talked to anybody. Nobody has reached out,” he said. “We’re still on hold and waiting for communication even from the Pentagon or the White House.”

Desiderio said Tuberville’s change of strategy is due to the fact that Senate will end up passing a rules resolution to get around the holds.

“He sees the writing on the wall — enough R’s will back Rules resolution to roll him — so he doesn’t want to take what would amount to a 2nd loss: Senate passing Rules res to go around him,” Desiderio said on X. “So Tuberville is preparing to accept an off-ramp that he previously rejected & would rid him of all leverage. At lunch yesterday, Tuberville extolled the ‘traditions of the Senate’ and said he didn’t want the Rules resolution to pass. He [previously] said he didn’t care about [resolution’s] timing.”

NEWS—More to add to our scoop from yesterday about Tuberville’s shifting endgame:

He sees the writing on the wall — enough R’s will back Rules resolution to roll him — so he doesn’t want to take what would amount to a 2nd loss: Senate passing Rules res to go around him (cont.)➡️ https://t.co/EmC3ND5u2f

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) November 29, 2023

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he plans to bring the rule change to the floor if Republicans are unable to change Tuberville’s mind on the issue.

“Members on both sides of the aisle are reaching a boiling point with Senator Tuberville,” Schumer said Monday. “And before the year is out we’re going to act to bring his blockade to and end. In the coming weeks I will bring a resolution to the floor approved by the Rule Committee allowing the Senate to quickly confirm the hundreds of military leaders that Senator Tuberville has obstructed.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee