Department of Defense officials are encouraged but not satisfied by Sen. Tommy Tuberville's announcement that he would release his hold on most of, but not all, military promotions and nominations, which he has blocked for nearly a year.

The Alabama Republican has used his senatorial power to block military promotions and confirmations for about 10 months due to the department's post-Roe policy, though he announced Tuesday that he would release his hold on all but four-star nominees ahead of a vote on a temporary rules change that would have permitted the Senate to confirm the nominees en masse. More than 400 service members had their promotions blocked due to Tuberville's hold.

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"Well, certainly we're encouraged by the news will continue to stay engaged with Senator Tuberville and the Senate directly to urge that all the holds on all our general Flight Officer nominations be lifted to include those nominated for four star," Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Tuesday. "It's not flicking a switch and suddenly everyone moves into these new positions. You have to consider things like when people can move, where the people that are moving out of the positions are going, and so all of that has to be carefully orchestrated and done in a way that enables us to continue to conduct the operations without having [a] significant impact."

There are about a dozen four-star officers whose promotions would still be held, despite Tuberville's backdown.

"It has an impact on readiness as we try to stay focused on the mission, which we are going to do," Ryder added. "And so this department is very focused on a daily basis on getting that mission done. But when it's unclear whether or not your senior leaders are going to be in place at the time and place they're needed, that of course creates unnecessary friction and does have [an] impact on readiness."

Tuberville's protest is over a Pentagon policy that came out in response to the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade. Under the policy, the department would reimburse the travel expenses incurred for a service member or dependent who would have to travel out-of-state to receive a reproductive healthcare procedure that would not be legal in their home state, such as an abortion.

“We fought hard,” Tuberville said. “We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach and an abortion policy.”

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Pentagon officials argue the policy is a way to ensure every service member has access to the same healthcare, and Department of Justice officials have ruled that the policy does not violate any federal guidelines, while Tuberville believes the opposite is true. While he is not the only Republican to disagree with the policy, some have criticized his tactics.

Earlier this fall, the Senate used a workaround to vote on and confirm three Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chairman, whose nominations had been held up. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps all had interim chiefs for a short period of time, which marked the first time three service branches had no Senate-confirmed leaders.