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Democrats Reject White House Offer on Bolton
Senator Joseph Biden (Del.), the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has rejected a White House compromise floated in an effort to end an impasse over U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, June 23). White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card on Wednesday offered Biden the same briefing on Bolton given to the Senate intelligence committee. Biden “came back with new requests, and moved the goal (posts),” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Democrats have demanded that the White House check for the names of 36 U.S. officials in National Security Agency intercepts requested by Bolton while he was undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. They are also asking for documents on a speech Bolton prepared but never gave on Syria’s weapons capabilities. Without this information, the Democrats have refused to allow a confirmation vote on the Senate floor. Biden spokesman Norm Kurz said it was unacceptable for the White House to offer information “piecemeal or just half of it or part of it. Anything other than the entirety of those two requests, that's insufficient.” “The problem here is that they're trying to figure out if there is a way for them to cooperate only partially and the answer to that is no,” Kurz added. “The only time we've moved the goal post was by moving it closer to them” (Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, June 23). John Danforth, the United States’ last U.N. ambassador, said he believes Bolton’s power at the assembly would not be diminished if he were appointed during a congressional recess, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. “I don't think anybody at the United Nations cares whether Bolton is supported by 60 senators or 50 senators,” said Danforth, a former Republican senator who resigned as ambassador in January. Danforth said diplomats only care if Bolton has the ear of the president, which “clearly he does.” However, former secretary of state and U.N. ambassador Madeline Albright, said a failure to receive Senate confirmation would hurt Bolton. “It will not be very easy for Ambassador Bolton if in fact he is a recess appointment,” said Albright, a Democrat (Agence France-Press/Yahoo!News June 23).
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