Alex Chadwick speaks with NPR senior Washington editor Ron Elving about the latest political news.
ALEX CHADWICK, host: Back in Washington, the president continues to face challenges to his      domestic plans and priorities.  The Senate this week will return to the      case of John Bolton.  He is the president's pick to be ambassador to the      UN.  And senators may also go to war over some of the pending nominees      for the federal appeals court.  Joining us to talk about the struggles in      the Capitol is NPR's senior Washington editor, Ron Elving.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Ron, welcome back.</s>RON ELVING reporting: Hello, Alex.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: So John Bolton's nomination has been in suspended animation      now for almost a month, since he first appeared before the Senate      committee, and what's been going on?</s>ELVING: Alex, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff have been      interviewing people non-stop for the last two to three weeks.  They've      interviewed 31 people, people who have worked with John Bolton and who      know him well, some who have supported him and some others who have been      critical of the nomination.  And in these closed-door interviews, which      just ended on Friday, the staff have heard a lot of what sounds like the      same sorts of stories we'd heard before.  Now the Republicans, of course,      see it one way and the Democrats see it another.  But on Thursday,      they're going to have a meeting of the whole committee, and if the      Democrats show up, which is in some dispute, they will then have a vote      after several hours of debate.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Well, just go over for us, what have we learned in these      interviews?  You say it's kind of the same stuff we've learned before,      but lay it out a little.</s>ELVING: The Republicans say there's nothing new, that there's no smoking      gun, that we just heard more about how the man has a tendency to be      blunt, how he can be forceful with his underlings.  The Democrats look at      this and they say, `Well, you can call that nothing new.  We call it      corroborating evidence.  We think that the bluntness and the abusiveness      is just the beginning, and that he goes beyond that and he mishandles      intelligence by suppressing those bits of intelligence that don't agree      with his position and trying to play up those bits that do.'</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Lot of talk about where former Secretary of State Colin Powell      stood on this nomination.  Mr. Bolton worked for him at the State      Department. How's that come out?</s>ELVING: Powell has not testified, but he has had private conversations      with several of the senators who are involved, and we know he did not      sign the letter of support that other Republican former secretaries of      State signed. Now Powell's former deputy, Richard Armitage, has said he      supports Bolton's nomination being confirmed, but there's a certain      amount of irony in that because both Powell and Armitage wanted to have      his speeches and public statements vetted through their office.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Well, if the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate can't      agree on Mr.  Bolton, perhaps they could make peace over the issue of      judicial confirmations?  Perhaps not, but there is talk of some kind of      deal being worked out on this dispute, isn't there?</s>ELVING: There's a group of Republican and Democratic senators talking      about a way to avoid a confrontation over filibusters.  And it's about      breaking loose enough of the Republicans and enough of the Democrats, six      on each side, that they could essentially prevail in such a      confrontation.  They could add their votes on one side, add their votes      on the other side and prevent either a confrontation over filibusters or,      for that matter, a filibuster on certain of the nominees.  And if there      are enough, they can essentially take this out of the hands of the      regular leaders of the two parties.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Well, how do they feel about that--the leaders, I mean?</s>ELVING: Well, it's frustrating and to some degree it would be humbling      for them, but it could also be liberating to have this taken out of their      hands. Now on the Republican side, Bill Frist, the majority leader, is      under tremendous pressure from the White House and from the conservative      religious wing of the Republican Party to force confirmation votes on      every one of the president's nominees, and that would mean forcing him to      outlaw the filibuster with respect to judicial nominees.  If he has the      votes to win, that would create a situation in which the Democrats have      threatened to shut down other business in the Senate.  If he doesn't have      the votes to win, well, there's something of a failure in that for him,      or a humiliation in that.  So it's a no-win situation and he might be      better off being relieved of it.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: NPR's senior Washington editor, Ron Elving.  Thank you, Ron.</s>ELVING: Thank you, Alex.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Stay with us on DAY TO DAY from NPR News.