Pivotal Vote on Bolton Debate Is Set for Today

05/26/2005

By DAVID STOUT
NY Times
Published: May 26, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 26 - The Senate debate over John R. Bolton, President Bush’s embattled nominee for United Nations ambassador, was in its final stages this afternoon, with at least one pivotal vote set for early this evening.

The Senate was scheduled to vote at 6 p.m. on whether to end the debate over Mr. Bolton. Shutting off debate requires 60 votes, and if Mr. Bolton’s supporters can muster at least that many, the Senate will then vote immediately to confirm him.

Should Mr. Bolton’s supporters fail to amass the 60 votes to end debate, a vote on confirmation may be put off until after the Memorial Day recess, meaning a decision would come on June 6 or later.

Republicans have 55 votes in the Senate, so if they can force a yes-or-no vote on the nomination Mr. Bolton is virtually assured of confirmation. On the other hand, Democrats can win a temporary victory by mustering 41 votes, enough to keep debate going for a while.

Democrats who oppose him have made it clear that they are not threatening a filibuster, or extremely prolonged debate, in an attempt to stymie the nomination. Rather, the Democrats say, they oppose an early end to debate, and they want the Bush administration to provide more information on Mr. Bolton’s handling of intelligence.

“I don’t think we’re being treated as a co-equal branch of government,” Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who has been a leader of the opposition to Mr. Bolton, said in debate today. Mr. Dodd and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, sent a letter to their Senate colleagues today urging them to support a longer debate.

But Mr. Bolton’s supporters insisted, as they have all along, that enough is known about the nominee to justify a yes-or-no vote now, that despite his shortcomings he is well qualified for the post, and that President Bush has the right to pick members of his foreign-policy team.

“He may be rough around the edges,” said Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire. But the rough edges reflect an “assertiveness” that will suit him well as ambassador to the United Nations, which could stand some changes, Mr. Gregg said.

Mr. Bolton’s critics have called him a bully, a near-impossible boss and a man willing to tailor intelligence data to his own views. Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, Democrat of Maryland, said today that Mr. Bolton’s “outright hostility” to the United Nations itself is just one quality that makes him unsuitable for the post.

But Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, said Mr. Bolton’s critics have it all wrong. The nominee is “committed to the success of the United Nations,” Mr. Kyl said. The senator said the nominee had been subjected to criticism verging on “character assassination,” and that he had become a target for people who do not like President Bush’s foreign policies.

The back-and-forth followed the themes that have characterized the running dispute over Mr. Bolton. Senators George Allen, Republican of Virginia, and Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, agreed that the United Nations needs to be changed - to make it “credible and relevant once again,” as Mr. Allen put it.

But while Mr. Allen saw Mr. Bolton as ideal for the post because of his “broad and deep knowledge of international affairs,” Mr. Feingold said the nominee’s hostility to the United Nations made him “fundamentally unsuited” to be envoy.

As for the additional information sought by Democrats, the State Department was standing fast in refusing to provide it, saying that to do so would have a chilling effect on future internal discussions.