New York Times
By Carl Hulse
March 5, 2015
Senate
Democrats on Thursday intensified their push for a vote on the
confirmation of Loretta E. Lynch as attorney general, arguing that her
nomination should not be held
up because Republicans are angry with President Obama over executive
action on immigration.
“The
delay is wrong and it is irresponsible,” Senator Amy Klobuchar,
Democrat of Minnesota, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said during a
conference call with reporters.
“She should be judged on her merits and not used as a pawn in a proxy
fight over the president’s immigration policies.”
Despite
objections by some conservatives, Ms. Lynch, the United States attorney
for the Eastern District of New York, had seemed headed toward
confirmation without significant
trouble. But her defense of the president’s immigration actions at her
Judiciary Committee hearing in January has cost her some support, though
she still seems on track for narrow approval of her confirmation once a
vote is set by Senator Mitch McConnell,
the Kentucky Republican and majority leader.
Republicans
acknowledge that they see her nomination as a way to register a
protest, particularly given the failure of the attempt to fund the
Department of Homeland Security
only if the president’s actions on immigration were gutted.
“I
believe the Congress has no choice but to be firm in rejection of the
president’s overreach,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of
Alabama, a top foe of the president
on immigration who has also called for the defeat of Ms. Lynch’s
nomination.
Ms.
Lynch currently has 50 declared supporters in the Senate — 46 members
of the Democratic caucus and four Republicans. That represents the
minimum necessary for confirmation,
with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. able to break a potential tie
in her favor. The Republicans backing Ms. Lynch are Senators Lindsey
Graham of South Carolina, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Orrin G. Hatch of
Utah, all members of the Judiciary Committee, as
well as Senator Susan Collins, a centrist from Maine.
Ms.
Lynch’s supporters would like to see a cushion and believe that such a
narrow vote would be an injustice given her strong credentials and
record as a prosecutor in
addition to the backing she has in the law enforcement and civil rights
communities.
The
Senate Democrats also said they saw the lack of movement on the
nomination of Ms. Lynch, who would become the first African-American
woman to serve as attorney general,
as unfortunate given this weekend’s observation of the 50th anniversary
of the civil rights march in Selma, Ala.
“Now,
on the anniversary of Selma, she is being told, just be patient and
wait your turn,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior
Democrat on the Judiciary
Committee. “That’s wrong and beneath the Senate.”
A
spokesman for Mr. McConnell said that Ms. Lynch, who was approved by
the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 26, had officially been on the Senate
calendar for only four days
and that Mr. McConnell had assured the Senate that she would receive a
vote.
“As
these senators well know, the leader has already announced that the
nominee will receive a floor vote now that the nomination has cleared
the committee,” said Don
Stewart, the McConnell spokesman. “They’ve known that for all four days
the nomination has been pending before the full Senate.”
Mr.
McConnell has not yet indicated, however, when that vote will be, and
the debate is likely to consume some time since Mr. Sessions, Senator
Ted Cruz of Texas and other
conservative Republicans will probably want to lay out their case
against her on the Senate floor.
Democrats
have pointed to how quickly Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter
received a vote, with his nomination clearing the Armed Services
Committee on Feb. 10 followed
by a full confirmation vote two days later.
Ms.
Lynch was nominated in November while Democrats still controlled the
Senate, and there was some consideration given to pushing her nomination
through in the lame-duck
Congress. But Democrats decided to hold off, and Mr. Leahy said that
decision cleared the way for the Senate to instead confirm dozens of
federal judges and other stalled administration nominees. Mr. Leahy said
Thursday that he thought that was an acceptable
trade-off.
Ms.
Lynch would replace Eric H. Holder Jr., who has had a confrontational
relationship with Congressional Republicans. Mr. Holder is remaining in
office until his successor
is confirmed.
In
a letter to Mr. McConnell, the Democratic members of the Senate noted
that her nomination had “been pending for 117 days, making her the
longest pending attorney general
nominee in three decades.”
“To
hold up the nomination of Ms. Lynch over immigration is just plain
wrong,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Senate
Democrat. “It is time for
Senator McConnell to bring her nomination to the floor for a vote.”
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