The White House attempt to push through the confirmation of its controversial choice of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador was blocked on Monday for the second time by Democrats in the Senate.
The vote left President George Bush facing difficult choices about how to proceed, with analysts saying it could leave him appearing weak when his popularity is falling in the opinion polls.
Bush left open the possibility of appointing the outspoken hawk temporarily during a recess. A so-called recess appointment would only last through the next one-year session of Congress — in Bolton’s case until January 2007.
But some Republicans urged Bush to continue fighting for him rather than appoint the former state department official on his own for fear of sending a weakened nominee to the UN.
Republicans were six votes shy of the 60 votes needed to end a procedural obstacle known as a filibuster, when long speeches are made to avoid a matter being settled, and advance the nomination to a confirmation vote.
The Senate vote of 54-38 against overcoming the filibuster came after Bush had called for an immediate final vote on Bolton’s nomination.
Speaking before the vote at the White House, Bush demanded an ”up and down vote” on whether he would appoint Bolton when Congress is suspended for a recess on July 4.
The president side-stepped a question about whether he would bypass the Senate. At a news conference with European leaders before the vote, Bush said: ”Well, put him in. If they’re interested in reforming the United Nations, they ought to approve John Bolton.”
But Monday’s vote represented an erosion in support from last month’s failed Republican effort, when Republicans fell four votes short of moving the nomination forward. Senator George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, who voted in May to advance the nomination, switched positions and urged Bush to consider another candidate, while only three Democrats crossed party lines.
If Bush does not try to sidestep the Senate by installing Bolton temporarily, he could withdraw the nomination or authorise further concessions to Democrats who are demanding access to information, some of it classified, about Bolton before they stop stalling.
Democrats have demanded the administration check a list of 36 US officials against names in secret national security intercepts that Bolton requested and received. They also want documents related to the preparation of testimony that Bolton planned to give in July 2003 about Syria’s weapons capability.
Democrats say they want to determine whether Bolton improperly used intelligence to intimidate officials who disagreed with his views. And they suspect the Syria documents could bolster their case that Bolton sought to exaggerate intelligence data. They also want to see if he misled the Senate during his confirmation hearings when he said he was not involved in the preparation of that Syria testimony.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, senior Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said White House chief of staff Andrew Card had offered to provide some information about Syria. ”I indicated to him that was not sufficient,” Biden said.
Rather, Biden said Democrats would give Bolton a final confirmation vote only when the administration provided all the information they sought. ”The vote we’re about to take is not, is not about John Bolton, the vote is about taking a stand,” Biden said. He called it ”totally unacceptable” for the president, let alone the political party, to ”dictate to the United States Senate how he, the president, thinks we should proceed”.
Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee accused Democrats of being unwilling to compromise. ”Some on the other side of the aisle are obstructing a highly qualified nominee and I believe by not allowing him to assume this position yet are doing harm to our country,” Frist said.
Bush has said Bolton, who has a history of blunt talk and has expressed scepticism about the UN’s power, would lead an effort to overhaul its bureaucracy and make it more accountable. But critics say Bolton would hurt US efforts to work with the UN and other countries.
No US president has used a recess appointment for a UN ambassador since 1970, officials said. Presidents have occasionally made recess appointments of ambassadors to countries, including Bill Clinton’s 1996 appointment of former senator Wyche Fowler of Georgia to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia. – Guardian Unlimited Â