Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has teed up votes to advance three top military nominees who have been jammed up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville — a reversal after the Democratic leader said for months he wouldn’t hold standalone votes on confirmations.

But with the Alabama Republican forcing his hand, Schumer on Wednesday filed cloture, a procedural motion to end debate, on three of President Joe Biden’s senior picks — Gen. C.Q. Brown to be Joint Chiefs chair, Gen. Randy George to be Army chief of staff and Gen. Eric Smith to be Marine commandant.

The votes on the three nominees may happen as early as Wednesday afternoon if all senators agree to speed up the timeline. Tuberville said he wouldn’t stand in the way of the votes, portraying Schumer’s push to hold votes as a cave.

The move comes as Tuberville planned to force his own cloture vote on Smith’s nomination to lead the Marine Corps, which could have placed Democrats in the awkward position of blocking Biden’s nominees.

The Democratic leader said on the floor Wednesday that he would seek an agreement to shorten the time to hold the procedural votes later in the day. If all senators don’t agree, Schumer warned the Senate would stay in session Friday and Saturday until all three Joint Chiefs nominees are confirmed.

Tuberville has for months blocked quick confirmation of general and flag officer promotions in a bid to force the Pentagon to overturn its policy that covers the costs of troops who travel to obtain abortions. The number of frozen nominations now exceeds 300 officers.

Following Schumer’s announcement, Tuberville said he won’t block same-day confirmation votes on the trio of Joint Chiefs picks.

“Individually? Let’s bring them tonight,” Tuberville said. “As long as we go through cloture, as long as we do them individually, not as a group, I’m good with it.”

Tuberville, who has argued that Democrats can simply vote to confirm officers individually, called Schumer’s move a win.

“We’ve been saying this for months, we call them out and they blink,” Tuberville said. “I asked them to do this and they’re doing it. That’s a win.”

The confirmations would mark only incremental progress toward breaking the larger logjam. The remainder of the nominees awaiting confirmation would still be subject to Tuberville’s blanket hold, creating the logistical burden of holding separate votes on each officer.

Schumer, who had previously resisted holding votes on individual nominees, said Wednesday’s move was done in response to Tuberville’s holds, and argued the Alabama Republican is “forcing us to confront his obstruction head-on.”

“The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the senior senator from Alabama,” Schumer said.

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