Frist lacks votes to overcome Bolton filibuster

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday July 25, 2006

The Republican leadership in the Senate may lack the votes it needs to overcome a filibuster of a confirmation vote for controversial US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, RAW STORY has learned.

A report in today's Roll Call quotes senate aides on both sides of the aisle who believe that the Bolton vote may be difficult for the Republicans. While the declaration of support for the Bush pick by Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio means that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is likely to pass the vote onto the Senate floor, Republican Majority leader Bill Frist may not be able to persuade enough Democrats to invoke cloture and bring Bolton's nomination to a vote over a possible filibuter by other Democrats. By some counts, Frist is at least two votes short of 60.

The final vote on Bolton's nomination is also likely to be delayed until September when the Senate returns from its summer recess.

An excerpt from the subscribers-only story is included below.

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Last year, Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) broke ranks with their fellow Democrats and supported an end to the filibuster of the nomination. But with Bush’s popularity sagging — in large part because of his foreign policy decisions — and with Democrats making a credible push to retake the Senate in November, Republicans said it would be premature to count those three votes for Bolton at this point.

An aide to Nelson said he would again support a cloture motion to end the Democratic filibuster. A spokesman for Landrieu would not commit either way until the Senator revisits the issue following Bolton’s confirmation hearing. A spokeswoman for Pryor did not return a request for comment.

Even if all three vote with the GOP again, Frist would still be two votes short of the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.