For the first time since Sen. Tommy Tuberville. R-A.L., blocked military nominations over Defense Department abortion policies in February, the U.S. Senate confirmed a military appointment on Wednesday, approving Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Brown was confirmed by a vote of 84-11, making him the first Black chairman of the joint chiefs. He replaces Gen. Mark Milley, who is retiring at the end of the month.

Tuberville was among the 11 no votes, while Katie Britt, Alabama’s Republican junior senator, was a yes vote.

The confirmation came hours after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., scheduled a procedural vote to move Brown’s nomination forward along with those of Marine Commandant nominee Gen. Eric M. Smith and Randy George, nominated to be Army chief of staff.

Earlier in the day, Tuberville moved to force a vote Wednesday on Smith’s nomination, in response to Democratic criticism of the hold that the blockade is harming military readiness. Schumer’s scheduling of the votes on the three nominees rendered Tuberville’s action moot.

The procedural vote passed, 89-8.

Tuberville has blocked more than 300 military nominations since January over Defense Department policies on abortion, including reimbursing service members who live in areas where abortion is illegal and need to travel to undergo the procedure.

Brown’s nomination does not signal an end to the months-long stalling, according to Tuberville.

“To be clear, my hold remains in place,” the senator said Wednesday afternoon.

Tuberville, who has said his hold does not prevent Schumer from scheduling votes, said he could move to attempt to hold the same procedural votes for other military nominees.

Democrats earlier claimed voting on the nominations individually would be lengthy. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., claimed in July it would take 27 days with the Senate working “around the clock” or 84 days if the Senate worked eight hours a day to get through all the nominations.

Alabama’s senior senator has fought with the White House and top Senate Democrats over the holds, with President Joe Biden attacking Tuberville on multiple occasions, claiming the move harms the military and their families and is “irresponsible.”

But Tuberville claimed the hold is within his rights and that the Defense Department’s policies are illegal, arguing that only Congress could put the policies in place.