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After months of blocked military confirmations, the Senate voted 83-10 Wednesday to confirm Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, replacing Gen. Mark Milley, who retires in two weeks.

This comes as, for months now, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has single-handedly blocked Senate military confirmations in protest of what he calls the Pentagon’s “unlawful elective abortion policy.” His blockade has left the Army, Marines, and Navy leaderless for the first time in American history.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is now announcing a plan to circumvent Tuberville’s blockade.

Typically, military appointments are confirmed through the “unanimous consent” process – allowing the Senate to quickly confirm nominees as long as no one objects. But Tuberville is forcing Schumer to hold individual votes on each nominee. It’s a time-consuming process, but something Tuberville says Schumer could have done all along.