Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for the third time on Tuesday about the senator's blockade on military nominees but failed to break the impasse.

Tuberville has placed a hold on the promotions of some 270 high-ranking officers in protest of the Pentagon's decision to pay for the travel expenses of servicewomen who receive an abortion. The policy, which Republicans call a violation of the Hyde Amendment, sparked a showdown that has entered its fifth month.

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Tuberville refuses to drop the hold until the Pentagon rescinds its policy, which Austin has defended as a legal accommodation in light of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The two spoke shortly after Tuberville began the hold in March, but months went by without contact between their offices.

That changed on Thursday when Austin requested a phone call with Tuberville, which the senator described as "cordial and productive."

They agreed to speak again this week, ahead of a Wednesday Senate briefing on the Pentagon's policy. But the dialogue has yet to resolve the differences between the two men.

"No, not yet," Tuberville told reporters on Tuesday when asked if the conversations had yielded any progress. "Just cordial. Everybody gives their position, and then, 'Well, let's talk again.'"

A growing number of senators have pleaded with Tuberville to drop his hold, which Austin says will harm military readiness. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sat down with Tuberville for their first extended conversation on the matter last week.

Yet Tuberville is unmoved, even as Republicans grow weary of the stalemate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has publicly disagreed with the tactic, but there's no indication so far that Tuberville is facing pressure from GOP leadership.

That could change the longer the hold drags on. Upward of 650 nominations could be held up by year's end, and the blockade has already started to delay the promotions of officers at the highest echelons of the military.

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As of last week, the Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in more than 100 years.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could circumvent the blockade by moving the nominees one by one, a process that would eat up valuable floor time, but he has declined to do so, voicing concern that it would set a precedent of "hostage-taking" on what are traditionally uncontroversial nominees.