Senate fails to confirm Sam Brownback as religious freedom ambassador

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has been waiting nearly six months for confirmation as the Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, but the position remains in a state of uncertainty as the Senate had failed to vote on his nomination before the year-end Christmas recess.

President Donald Trump had nominated Brownback in July to fill the post vacated by David Saperstein on Jan. 20, Baptist Standard reported.

Brownback had expected to be confirmed for the position by Christmas, but negotiations between Senate Republicans and Democrats have pushed the vote into January.

According to The Garden City Telegram, the confirmation process has been delayed over Democrats' concerns about Brownbacks record on gay rights.

The Kansas governor had drawn the ire of gay rights groups after he signed an executive order that reversed a previous order prohibiting discrimination against LGBT government workers in Kansas.

The Senate's failure to confirm Brownback sends the nomination back to Trump's desk because U.S. Senate Rule 31 requires lawmakers to agree unanimously to continue considering nominees at the end of a year. The President could either re-nominate him or choose someone else to serve as the religious freedom ambassador.

Rep. Roger Marshall, a freshman Republican from western Kansas, said that he was shocked to learn that Brownback's confirmation had taken so long.

"Obviously he would be an excellent person to do the job that he's been asked to do," Marshall said. "He's kind of created a lame duck situation back home in Kansas so we need to get it done. I think it's just one more example unfortunately of the Senate just kind of jamming things and slowing the process down," he added.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said that the nominations as a whole had been proceeding very slowly through the Senate because "we are facing across the board Democratic filibusters and delays."

"The ambassador for religious (freedom) is an important position and it needs to be filled and my hope is that Gov. Brownback will be confirmed sooner rather than later," Cruz said.

The delay has been a cause for concern among Kansans as it is still unclear who will be governor when the Kansas Legislature convenes on Jan. 8.

Brownback, who had anticipated the ambassadorship confirmation before year's end, had already delivered a farewell address and has handed off gubernatorial budget preparations and personal decisions to Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer.

If the White House fails to resubmit the nomination before Jan. 9, Brownback will still serve as governor and he will be required to deliver the annual State of the State speech to the Kansas Legislature.

Before Brownback was elected as the 46th governor of Kansas, he had served as a U.S. senator from 1996 to 2011. During his time in the Senate, he co-sponsored the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and he served as the co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.