This morning, the New York
Times reported that the hearing had been postponed to
Monday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, however, a Democratic aide
to the Foreign Relations committee said Sen. Richard
Lugar (R-IN), who chairs the committee, has expressed
his intent to go forward with the hearing Thursday—even
without three senior Democrats, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA),
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE).
Lugar's office could not be reached for comment.
"As of this afternoon, Lugar was saying he was
still going to hold the hearing on Thursday as planned,
although I’m hearing now that he will change it
to Monday," one staffer said.
Congress' schedule is in flux later this week as a
number of prominent members travel to Pope John Paul
II's funeral Friday; a vote scheduled on the bankruptcy
bill Wednesday has already been postponed.
“If Lugar does go ahead and hold that hearing
on Thursday," a Democratic Foreign Relations aide
said, "it will only highlight how controversial
John Bolton’s nomination is and how the Republicans
will have to sneak it through."
Bolton is expected to clear the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and be approved by the full Senate, save a
filibuster by the Democrats.
"This is one of the most controversial nominees
that Bush Administration has put forward," the
aide added. "To hold his confirmation hearing when
some of the most prominent Democratic voices against
him are at the funeral of the Pope—it just looks
so pathetic.”
Those considered the swing votes on Bolton in the Republican-led
Foreign Relations Committee are Sen. Lincoln Chaffee
(R-RI), who sometimes votes with the Democrats and is
facing a tougher reelection campaign than in previous
years, and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), who has previously
expressed his philosophical belief that a President
should be able to select nominees of his choosing.
A spokesman for Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) told Roll Call
this afternoon that the Pope's death had affected the
Senate schedule.
“It will definitely impact the schedule,”
Frist spokesman Amy Call said. “We don’t
have a concrete schedule yet, [or know] if we will have
any votes or what, but we will definitely take the appropriate
amount of time to pay respect to the pope.”
“We’re going to get a bipartisan group
together and to accommodate as many Senators as possible,”
she added. “I know everybody’s been talking
numbers, but we just don’t have a number yet.”
Originally
published Apr. 5, 2005.
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