[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13605-13606]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         JOHN BOLTON NOMINATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday at the White House it was reported 
that President Bush told Republican leaders to keep fighting to get Mr. 
Bolton, the President's nominee to be U.N. ambassador, an up-or-down 
vote. Keep fighting--that was the message delivered by the President.
  I understand the need for an occasional pep rally to bolster 
discouraged members of his party, but the American people are tired of 
the fighting and the bickering. They want us to tackle the hard issues 
confronting this country and deal with the crisis in health care where 
45 million people have no health insurance and millions of others are 
underinsured, to deal with education, the ability of parents to send 
their children to college and then the deteriorating nature of our 
public school system, part of which is directly

[[Page 13606]]

related to the Leave No Child Behind Act. We are approaching 1,800 dead 
American soldiers in the war in Iraq. We are approaching 20,000 who 
have been wounded. We do not know the exact number of Iraqis who are 
dead, but it is well over 100,000.
  Of course, we have the President's ongoing direction to privatize 
Social Security. He has not directed his attention at all, as we 
should, to retirement security. United Airlines basically defaulted on 
their pension obligations to their employees. Delta, Northwest, other 
airlines, and other companies are standing by. Unless they get help 
from the Congress, they too will default on their obligations to their 
employees' retirement programs.
  They, the White House, want the John Bolton matter resolved. It can 
be resolved easily and quickly in two ways. First, the President can 
take the advice of the distinguished Republican, the Senator from Ohio, 
Mr. Voinovich, and offer a new nominee. Over the course of the Foreign 
Relations Committee hearings, it became quite clear that John Bolton is 
simply not the right man for this most important job. John Bolton has 
attempted to manipulate intelligence, intimidate intelligence analysts, 
and has shown outright disdain for the international system and the 
institution for which he was nominated to serve.
  The administration would have everyone believe that Mr. Bolton is the 
only man capable of delivering the reform message to the United 
Nations. We all agree that the United Nations needs reform, but I would 
submit that there are dozens, scores of tough reform-minded 
conservatives who could be confirmed rapidly with broad bipartisan 
support.
  We have quickly approved the White House's two previous selections to 
this post, Negroponte and Danforth, and we are prepared to do so again.
  When Senator Danforth decided to step down as our Representative to 
the United Nations, the administration had a choice to make: Did it 
want to pick someone along the lines of its two previous nominees who 
could have been quickly confirmed and on the job fixing the U.N. or did 
it want a fight in the Senate? It appears a fight was more in line with 
what they felt was appropriate.
  Unfortunately, the administration, as I have said, knowingly chose a 
fight. They were told prior to sending his name to the Senate that it 
was a problem. The White House's choice and subsequent actions 
demonstrate that reform in Washington is needed as much as it is at the 
United Nations.
  If the administration does not want to withdraw Mr. Bolton's 
nomination, and that appears to be clear, there is another path. It can 
take the advice of former majority leader Trent Lott, who said 
yesterday on Fox News that the administration should provide the 
information that has been requested by the Senate. This is Senator Lott 
saying this, not me, even though I have said it also. Speaking to Fox 
News, the Senator from Mississippi further said:

       My colleagues have a right to know that information. . . . 
     I think the [Administration] ought to give the [Senate] the 
     information.

  The distinguished Senator from Mississippi, my friend, also went on 
to say what this fight is really all about:

       We are saying to the White House, we're a coequal branch of 
     government here, other Senators have done this in the past, 
     we're seeking this information which we have a right to . . .

  That is also a view shared by the Republican Senator from Rhode 
Island who sits on the committee, Lincoln Chafee, who, when asked 
whether the White House should turn over the information about Mr. 
Bolton, said, as he usually does, in very short, concise statements: 
``I like full disclosure.''
  Full disclosure is exactly what we need. We should shed light on 
whether this nominee tried to stretch the truth about Syria's weapons 
of mass destruction programs, and it should explain why Mr. Bolton 
needed to see what Americans--perhaps his own superiors at the State 
Department--were saying about him in these NSA intercepts.
  I have said it before and I will say it again: This fight is not 
about Mr. Bolton. It is about whether this administration will 
recognize that the Constitution established that Congress is a coequal 
branch of Government with certain powers and responsibilities. If the 
President turns over the information, not part of it or a summary of it 
but turns over all of the information requested, the White House will 
get their up-or-down vote on Mr. Bolton.
  Unlike the advice offered by the President yesterday, continued 
fighting will not advance his troubled nominee. Working with the Senate 
will. By taking the advice of my friends from Ohio, Senator Voinovich; 
Mississippi, Trent Lott; and Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island, all 
Republicans, the President and the Congress can put this matter behind 
them and move on to the critical issues facing the Nation and the 
United Nations.

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