U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.., outlined a new tactic on Wednesday to get around his months-long hold on military promotions.

Alabama’s senior senator suggested the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act include language making the Pentagon policy reimbursing travel expenses to service members who obtain abortions illegal, tweeted Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News.

The House is currently debating the NDAA, but it is highly unlikely the Democratic-led Senate would agree to scrapping the policy, which applies to service members who seek abortions in other states if the procedure is illegal where they are stationed.

But Tuberville pushed back on the criticism of his tactic, calling his strategy a “bargaining chip” in an interview with CNN.

He pointed out President Biden would either have to sign the policy bill with the abortion provision or the Defense Department would be without a budget.

“If it stays in there and the Senate passes it, he’ll sign it or we won’t have an NDAA,” Tuberville told CNN, calling it a “bargaining chip.”

Since February, Tuberville has blocked the promotions in protest of Defense Department policies that reimburse service members’ travel expenses for abortions if they are stationed in a state where the procedure is illegal.

Democrats had been working on a way to circumvent the holds, including a Senate Rules Committee hearing scheduled for Nov. 14 meeting on a resolution that would allow all the nominations to move forward at the same time.

Tuberville had not faced resistance on his holds from Republicans until last week, when a group of GOP senators attempted to advance the nominations.

But Tuberville objected and the promotions continued to be held up.

An impasse on the holds was temporarily broken in September to approve several high-ranking military officials, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff C.Q. Brown. The holds were also temporarily sidestepped on Friday to confirm three other top officials, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.