This is the latest from a Senate source on what is expected tomorrow (Thursday) in the Battle over Bolton:
following is the expected procedure for the bolton votes tomorrow:
debate will continue until 6 pm tomorrow. final arguments will focus on the fact that the administration continues to stiff-arm the senate with respect to legitimate requests for documents relevant to the foreign relations committee’s review of john bolton’s fitness to serve as u.s. ambassador to the u.n.
for several weeks the administration has refused to comply with the committee’s request for materials pertaining to syria policy and for the names on the nsa intercepts.
at 6pm tomorrow there will be a cloture vote. if there are 60 votes in favor of cloture, the senate will move without any further debate to an up or down vote on john bolton’s confirmation. if there are not 60 votes in favor of cloture, the question of john bolton’s confirmation will be carried over until after next week’s recess.
there will be no filibuster, but a majority of democrats insist that the administration provide the senate with all materials required to make a sound judgment about whether john bolton should or should not be confirmed.
the 6pm vote will reveal whether a majority of the senate believes the legislative branch is equal to or subservient to the executive branch.
Ignore the absence of caps. This is a great preview of what lies ahead.
This is now being framed in one of the ways it should: Are the Executive and Legislative branches equal and have mutual obligations and duties to fulfill rowards each other?
Or is the legislative branch subservient to the White House?
There is great tumult and angst on the Senate floor today, this evening, and will be tomorrow.
TWN will report what it thinks is critical in the debate. TWN commenters are doing a great job of reporting the micro-twists and turns in the Comments section of the blog.
ChargingRhino and others are also doing some excellent live-blogging. (I will provide hyperlinks to these sites later.)
Stay tuned.
— Steve Clemons
