Virginia senator plays big part in stopping military promotions blockade

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Hundreds of military promotions will finally be confirmed after Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville ended his one-man blockade. Tuberville's hold was because he was against an unrelated abortion policy.

Sen. Tim Kaine pushed Tuberville for months to end his hold.

Kaine said stopping promotions wouldn't just affect military readiness, but many Virginia families.

A few weeks ago, Kaine debated Tuberville on the Senate floor. He made him stay late and object to each promotion to add on the pressure.

Kaine said he's not done adding the pressure until all promotions are confirmed.

"Inconveniencing him is not a problem given how much deep inconvenience he's now caused to hundreds of military families. If we get the defense bill done and a couple of other things done, the supplemental package for Ukraine and Israel, everybody's going to want to go home for the holidays, But I'm going to say we're not going home until we get this done," he said

Tuberville has not lifted the promotions on 4-star positions and above.