John Bolton UN nomination "going nowhere"

November 9th, 2006

Los Angeles, CA - The White House said today that President Bush will make a push to get confirmation for John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations before power in Congress shifts over to the Democrats.

The White House said today that President Bush will make a push to get confirmation for John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations before power in Congress shifts over to the Democrats.

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the expected chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says Bolton's nomination is "going nowhere."

The White House formally renewed its request that the Senate take up Bolton's nomination. But Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democrats, said they continued to resist Bolton's confirmation and "he is unlikely to get a vote any time soon."

Bolton, the controversial former undersecretary of state, was blocked by the current, Republican-led Senate after Bush nominated him in 2005. But he has been serving as the U.N. envoy under a temporary "recess appointment" that allows him to serve until the new Congress convenes in January.

However, his prospects in the newly elected Congress look bleak.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush discussed a desire to get Bolton confirmed during a breakfast meeting with Republican congressional leaders at the White House on Thursday.

"This is something that we think is important, that he stay there," Snow told reporters.