Boxer's hold another hitch in Bolton vote. She calls White House uncooperative

SFC ^ | May 14, 2005 | Edward Epstein

[FairOpinion]

Sen. Barbara Boxer of California has erected a roadblock against John Bolton, President Bush's embattled nominee for U.N. ambassador, in a fight with the administration over access to documents.

Boxer said Friday she would lift her hold on the nomination if the administration provided the additional information she was seeking. Boxer took her action to slow Bolton's nomination after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday sent Bolton's name to the full Senate without a recommendation.

Boxer's move, which the Republican Senate majority could overturn by getting 51 votes in favor of a motion to proceed despite her hold, could further raise the partisan temperature in a body already fighting over Republican efforts to curb the Democratic minority's power to filibuster Bush's judicial nominees.

If Republicans try to bring the nomination to the floor without reaching a settlement with Boxer and the committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, Boxer could tie up the Senate by demanding endless procedural votes.

[FairOpinion]

"The Senate gives a lot of power to individual Senators as well as the minority"


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And why weren't the Republicans using those rules, when they were in the minority for many years?!

They always want to be the "nice guys", forgetting the saying that "nice guys finish last". The Dems know this and take full advantage of the Republican wuss factor.

[paul_fromatlanta]

The holds don't even have to be public... a Senator can annonymously hold up a bill or nomination. Both parties do it. There was a resolution to stop that practice sponsored by Senators Lott and Byrd but I dont know what happened to it.