President George W. Bush on Thursday resubmitted the nomination of hawkish United Nations ambassador John Bolton to Congress, sparking an early row with Democrats celebrating a sweeping election win.
Bush originally named Bolton last year but was forced to give him a recess appointment after Democrats and a rebel Republican senator blocked the nomination in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
But his position expires when the new Congress convenes in January, and Bolton would need to be confirmed to carry on in the post.
The latest nomination was announced in a statement by the White House, appeared to have been timed to bring up the issue before Democrats take control.
Democrats have been united in opposing Bolton, who is close to Vice President Dick Cheney, and there is no chance he could be approved when they take control of the upper chamber.
Bolton's chances of being confirmed in the "lame-duck" session of Congress -- which opens next week, still under control of the Republicans -- also appear slim.
Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, in line to take over the Foreign Relations committee in the new Congress, quickly signalled on Thursday that Democrats would not allow Bush to get Bolton's nomination through.
"I see no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again in the Foreign Relations Committee, because regardless of what happens there, he is unlikely to be considered by the full Senate," Biden said in a statement.
"Mr. Bolton did not get a vote in the full Senate last year because the administration refused, with no justification, to allow the Senate to review documents highly relevant to his nomination.
"Unless the administration provides the Senate with the documents it is entitled to see, Mr. Bolton should not get a vote."
A spokesman for Richard Lugar, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it was not clear if Bolton would get a vote on the panel next week.