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Democrats Look to Block Bolton Vote
Senate Democrats are preparing to block a Republican effort expected Monday to force a vote on the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 16). “It's unlikely that (Republicans) will have the votes on Monday,” said a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The Bush administration continued to press for a vote. “It's time to get an up-or-down vote on John Bolton. He has answered questions. They have debated it,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. However, Republican officials admitted that they are unlikely to pick up the two votes needed to force a vote on Bolton. Sixty votes would be needed on Monday. Meanwhile, Bolton met yesterday with Democratic Senators Joseph Biden (Del.) and Christopher Dodd (Conn.), two of his most outspoken critics. Dodd’s spokeswoman said the senator asked Bolton to convince the Bush administration to provide the information Democrats have requested regarding National Security Agency intercepts reviewed by the nominee. Bolton did not have a response, she said (David Espo, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, June 16). Reid is also asking if Bolton exaggerated intelligence about foreign countries’ weapons of mass destruction programs, Reuters reported yesterday. “All over the news the last few days has been concerns about weapons of mass destruction by virtue of the memo that was discovered,” said Reid, referring to the “Downing Street memos” (see related GSN story, today). “Concerns about this administration hyping intelligence and Great Britain hyping intelligence cannot be dismissed lightly,” Reid continued, adding it “is no small matter for us to learn whether Mr. Bolton was a party to other efforts to hype intelligence.” The White House and officials including Bolton used claims that Iraq was operating WMD programs to make their case for war. Postwar inspectors have not found such weaponry (Reuters/New York Times, June 16).
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