|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Democrats Reject GOP Compromise on Bolton Info
U.S. Senate intelligence committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) yesterday attempted to pave the way for a vote on U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton by providing portions of information requested by Democrats, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 14). Roberts said National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told him that seven officials identified by Foreign Relations Committee Democrats were not mentioned in National Security Agency intercepts requested by Bolton. “He has assured me that none of them are among the names requested by Undersecretary [of State] Bolton,” Roberts said. Roberts said this information should satisfy Democrats, who had that Negroponte check for three dozen names in the communications. “This compromise represents the middle ground and should more than satisfy the concerns of my colleagues, unless, of course, they are not interested in being satisfied,” Roberts said. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) said the information provided by Roberts was not enough. “For Senator Roberts to decide on our behalf what we should be concerned about is most unusual,” Dodd said (Liz Sidoti, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, June 15). Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) praised the compromise offered by Roberts and called for a vote on Bolton. “It is now time to move forward and give John Bolton a straight up-or-down vote to be U.N. ambassador,” Frist said in a statement. “This post has gone unfilled now for nearly five months, and at a time when pressing issues such as genocide in Darfur, Iran’s nuclear program, North Korea’s nuclear threats, and continued mismanagement and corruption at the U.N. are the stories of the day” (Senator Bill Frist release, June 15).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
