Bush fills senior Pentagon post with second recess appointment

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George Bush made a second recess appointment in as many days, filling a senior Pentagon post with an official whose nomination had been blocked in the Senate.

The appointment of Peter Flory as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy came just a day after Bush bypassed Congress by naming John Bolton ambassador to the United Nations.

The Senate Armed Services Committee reported Flory's nomination to the full Senate on Thursday before Congress' summer recess.

Under the constitution, Bush has the authority to make recess appointments when the Congress is in recess. They can serve only until the next Congress is seated, which is in January 2007.

"The Senate has had ...