The Donald Trump administration’s long-delayed pick to serve as the top US diplomat overseeing the Middle East is finally set to move forward, Senate aides told Al-Monitor.

David Schenker, nominated as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs more than a year ago, is expected to be voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at its next meeting following the two-week congressional recess. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat serving on the panel, had been holding Schenker up since September in an unsuccessful bid to force the Trump administration to release a secret legal memo justifying US cruise missile strikes against Syria over its use of chemical weapons.

Schenker served as the Pentagon’s top policy aide for the Levant during the George W. Bush administration. In his role at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Schenker cultivated ties in Lebanon that cross religious and sectarian lines and bonds in Jordan that span “from the mayors of small towns in Jordan to the king,” said Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama who worked with Schenker at the Middle East-focused think tank. "So you’re getting somebody who knows the broader issues in the region. He brings a very special feel to the job," he added.

If confirmed by the Senate, Schenker would become the bureau’s first permanent leader since Trump first took office in January 2017, taking over from career diplomat David Satterfield. Satterfield, who has filled the role on an acting basis, has been tapped to be ambassador to Turkey.