Hill’s Nomination Held, But Senate Could Override the Hold Today (Update: Hill Still Not Confirmed!)

[Update: The gods of the Senate calendar were not kind to Chris Hill today. Harry Reid and John Kerry tried to bully him into it, but Brownback stood his ground and did not lift his hold. Hill was not confirmed.

It may be a short-lived moral victory. After the recess, it will be in the hands of the Senate leadership to get the nomination to the full Senate floor. In any event, North Korea’s missile test will have happened by then, Hill’s nomination will be enmeshed in the broader discussion of how appeasement failed to tame North Korea, and even if Hill escapes to Baghdad eventually, his legacy will be in much greater peril.]

First, the good news: Senator Brownback has placed a hold on Chris Hill’s nomination. With the passage of the budget not yet done, that would have meant that the nomination would not have gone to the full Senate for a vote until at least after the Easter recess, which ends on April 18th, unless President Obama does a recess appointment.

Now, the bad news: the Senate did pass the budget yesterday, which means that Harry Reid may be able to schedule a cloture vote on the nomination today. If so, Hill would be confirmed by a large majority of senators, most of whom wouldn’t know better if you told them that Hill had earned a reputation for impeccable integrity as Ambassador to Jordan, and then Kuwait. If you really care about this, my suggestion is to call your Senator now.

Even if there is not vote today, the effort against Hill has not accumulated enough support to stop his nomination, and Republican opposition appears to be concentrating on another controversial nominee. If the Senate goes into recess without confirming Hill, the hold will have bought time for opponents to make their case. But unless opposition builds in the next two weeks — or unless Harry Reid fails to get a vote on the calendar — Hill will be confirmed, eventually. Even in such an event, we can hope that future generations of diplomats will take note of Hill’s example and feign some degree of honor, integrity, and respect for the law. But make no mistake — Hill’s confirmation could be as disastrous for the people of Iraq and America as it has been for the people of North Korea.