Bush Pushes Anew for Bolton Confirmation


WASHINGTON - Republicans struggled to overcome Democratic delays and push U.N. nominee John R. Bolton to a Senate vote on Monday, while the White House left open the possibility that President Bush would install Bolton temporarily on his own.



At a White House news conference, Bush sidestepped a question on whether he would circumvent the Senate and appoint the tough-talking former State Department arms control chief to the U.N. ambassador's post when Congress leaves Washington for the July 4 holiday.

"I think it's time for the Senate to give him an up-or-down vote. Now," the president said. Still, Republicans faced likely defeat in their second effort to cut off debate and move to a vote.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also dodged questions about a recess appointment. Wielding a seldom-used power, a president can install an appointee during a Senate recess without the chamber's approval, but only through the next one-year session of Congress — in Bolton's case until January 2007.

Should Bush decide against that, he could withdraw the nomination or authorize further concessions to Democrats who are demanding access to information, some of it classified, about Bolton before they stop stalling.

Either of those options could cause Bush to appear weak at a time he is facing sagging poll numbers and fighting lame-duck status six months into his final term.

Failure by Republicans to prevail also would be a setback for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who has been unable to deliver Bolton's confirmation to the president more than three months after he was nominated.

Bush has said Bolton, with a history of blunt talk and skepticism about the U.N.'s power, would lead an effort to overhaul the world body's bureaucracy and make it more accountable. Critics say the fiery conservative, who has been accused of mistreating subordinates, would backfire and hurt U.S. efforts to work with the U.N. and other countries.

Republicans have a 55-44 edge in the Senate, which also has a Democratic-leaning independent, and appear to have the simple majority they would need to confirm Bolton.

But they have been unable to muster the 60 votes needed to break through Democratic delays and reach that final confirmation vote. Last month, Republicans fell four votes short of moving the nomination forward.

Democrats have vowed to hold up Bolton's nomination until they get more information from the administration. Republicans have accused the minority party of obstructing Senate business.

Democrats say they want to determine whether Bolton improperly used intelligence to intimidate officials who disagreed with his views. They have asked the administration to check a list of 36 U.S. officials against names in secret national security intercepts that Bolton requested and received.

They rejected a list of seven names that Sen. Pat Roberts (news, bio, voting record), R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, offered last week in an attempt to end the impasse. Roberts and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., the lead Democrat on the committee, previously were briefed on the intercept issue and said there was no indication Bolton acted improperly.

Democrats also want documents related to the preparation of testimony that Bolton, as the State Department's arms control chief, planned to give in the House in July 2003 about Syria's weapons capability. They want to know if Bolton misled the Senate during his confirmation hearings when he said he was not involved in the preparation of that testimony.

Negotiations last week between Republicans and Democrats failed to end the dispute. A brief meeting Bolton held with his two most vocal Democratic opponents — Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut — also proved fruitless.

Several presidents have used recess appointments to install nominees to high-profile posts.

President Eisenhower initially appointed Supreme Court justices Earl Warren, William Brennan and Potter Stewart during congressional recesses. They later won confirmation.

President Carter used the power with Transportation Secretary Neil Goldschmidt in 1979, and President Reagan did the same with Energy Secretary Donald Hodel in 1982. The Senate eventually confirmed both.

In 1996, President Clinton appointed Commerce Secretary Michael Kantor during a Senate recess to replace Ron Brown, who was killed in a plane crash while leading a trade mission to Bosnia. Kantor left the post before his nomination would have had to go before the Senate.