The president’s ‘hole card’

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON - Now that the Senate has, for the second time in four weeks, voted to block an up-or-down vote on President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, the president could use his power under Article Two, Section 2 of the Constitution to give Bolton a recess appointment to the job.

In a vote Monday night, 37 Senate Democrats and one Republican, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, voted to prevent Bolton from having an up-or-down confirmation vote. Bolton thus failed to get the 60 votes he needed for his nomination to move to a confirmation vote.

Given the backdrop of Bush’s inability to persuade Congress to consider Social Security legislation permitting workers to invest some of their tax payments in private retirement accounts and the failure of Republicans to win an earlier cloture vote on Bolton’s nomination, on May 23, Monday night’s vote was another test of whether Bush’s influence in Congress is dwindling.

Bush had repeatedly urged the Senate to approve Bolton’s nomination, speaking as late as Monday afternoon at a White House press briefing.

After the vote, one key GOP senator, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, suggested that "maybe our country would be better served to have an up-or-down vote and go ahead and approve him, rather than force a recess appointment which would weaken not only ... Mr. Bolton but also the United States. I would hope they (Bolton's foes) would rise above that.”

“If the administration goes ahead with a recess appointment I think that’s a mistake and I urge them not to do that,” said Bolton's chief adversary, Sen. Chris Dodd, D- Conn.

‘No joy’ in defeating Bush
“Contrary to what my colleagues may feel, I take no joy in any of this,” Dodd told reporters.

But for Democrats, there was reason to rejoice in having derailed Bush's nominee. In contrast with the Democrats’ marked lack of success so far this year in defeating Bush’s judicial nominees, the Bolton fight has given the Democrats an undeniable victory over the president.

One thing Dodd and other Democrats did skillfully was to shift the focus of the Bolton debate from reform of the United Nations to allegations that Bolton intimidated people who worked for him at the State Department.

It remains to be seen if Democrats’ success so far in scuttling Bolton’s nomination will lead them to revert to filibusters of Bush judicial nominations in the weeks ahead.

Bush has had a rough time in recent weeks in his dealings with Congress.

In two rebuffs for the president last week, the House passed a measure scaling back the USA Patriot Act by barring the FBI from getting library circulation records, library patron lists or book sales records in investigations of terrorism; it also approved a measure which the administration opposed to cut United States funding for the U.N. by 50 percent unless it implements reforms.

Bush did not answer a reporter's question Monday about whether he would use his recess appointment power to make Bolton the U.N. envoy despite the Senate's refusal to act on the nomination.

MORE FROM POLITICS

Politics Section Front

Obama to speak in Berlin NBC/WSJ Poll: Obama keeps lead Obama working to ensure Jewish vote NYT: McCain focuses on Arizona Obama visits Jerusalem's Western Wall House passes housing-rescue bill Justice called uncooperative on voting rights Newsweek: Are Clinton donors snubbing Obama? 7 congressmen experience ironic flight McCain credits Bush for drop in oil price Politics Section Front   Add Politics headlines to your news reader: