The US Army got a new chief of staff and the Marine Corps a new commandant after the Senate confirmed two generals for the posts on Thursday, while hundreds of Pentagon appointments remain blocked by a Republican senator who opposes abortion, AFP reported.

The nomination of Gen. Randy George to be the chief of staff of the infantry was approved by a 96-1 vote in the Senate, and the nomination of Marine Gen. Eric Smith was approved unanimously.

Both confirmations came a day after Gen. Charles Brown was confirmed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gen. Randy George has already served as chief of staff since Aug. 4, following the departure of his predecessor.

General Smith has held the same position in the Marine Corps since July 10.

The Senate usually approves military appointments quickly and by unanimous vote.

But over the course of several months, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville deliberately blocked hundreds of military appointments.

The Republican opposes the Pentagon’s financial assistance to service members who must travel for abortions, as some states have repealed abortion rights following a Supreme Court ruling last year.

The Senate can overcome this hurdle by holding a vote on each nomination, but then the process becomes much longer than the usual procedure of unanimous confirmation without a vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has so far been reluctant to hold these individual votes. He chose to do so only to counter Tuberville’s attempt to force a vote only on the nomination of General Eric Smith.

Representatives of the US Department of Defense have repeatedly warned about the possible negative consequences of this delay in confirming candidacies.

The current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told AFP last month that the situation could give adversaries the “false” impression that the US is in a situation of “internal division, instability, confusion and friction at the highest level”. (his) troops”.