Frist : No More Votes for Bolton

[ShangriLaTroubl]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced Tuesday that he won't schedule another vote on John Bolton's nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.


In so doing, the Tennessee Republican acknowledged there was nothing further he could do to break a Democratic stalemate with the Bush White House over Bolton.

"That's been exhausted," Frist said a day after Democrats again blocked a vote on the floor on Bolton's nomination. It was the second time the minority party in the Senate mustered enough votes to prevent Bolton's confirmation process from advancing.

Asked about Frist's remarks, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We'll continue to work with the Senate leadership."

Frist said that "at this juncture, we have to go back to the president and see what the decision he's going to make is."

He said scheduling a third vote now would be fruitless because Democrats will just keep stalling over information they are demanding from the White House.

"Whether it is politics or whatever their concerns are with, the goal posts constantly shifting. Bringing up another vote's not going to change anything," Frist said.

The White House earlier Tuesday has issued a new call for a vote on the nomination, accusing Democrats of being unwilling to compromise.

"They're only interested in blocking this nomination from moving forward," McClellan said at the time.

Frist's comments intensified pressure on President Bush to either withdraw Bolton's nomination, appoint him to the post without Senate approval when Congress is in recess, or give ground to Democrats. They are insisting that the administration release more records on Bolton's use of classified information when he was the State Department's top arms control official.

McClellan said he would not comment on breaking news from the podium in the White House press room, where he was talking to reporters.