John Bolton: Recess Appointment Likely

Administration officials say President Bush is preparing to use constitutional powers rarely employed for major appointments to bypass the Senate and install – if only temporarily – John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Bush intends to use a recess appointment to put the controversial conservative in the post before leaving Washington on Tuesday to spend August at his Texas ranch, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because Bush has not made the announcement.

Recess appointments, allowed only while Congress is on breaks, let presidents get around the required Senate confirmation of nominees. The House and Senate recessed on Friday until Sept. 6.

Under the Constitution, a recess appointment during the lawmakers’ August break would last until the next Congress, which begins in January 2007.

In Bolton’s case, a recess appointment would culminate a bitter, five-month battle between the White House and Democrats that had left his nomination stalled in the Republican-run Senate.

Flap previously urged the President to appoint John Bolton as a recess appointment.

About Damn Time!

Now, it is time for Bolton to kick some United Nations’ bureaucrats and get that agency on the right track (if it can be accomplished).