Senate Vote on Nomination of Loretta Lynch as Attorney General Faces New Delay

New York Times

By Emmarie Huetteman

March 15, 2015

Senate Vote on Nomination of Loretta Lynch as Attorney General Faces New Delay 

The Senate will not consider the nomination of Loretta E. Lynch to be attorney general until it moves forward on a stalled human trafficking bill, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said Sunday.

“I had hoped to turn to her next week, but if we can’t finish the trafficking bill, she will be put off again,” he said on the CNN program “State of the Union.”

Mr. McConnell said last Tuesday that he would hold a vote this week on Ms. Lynch’s nomination, which is the next item on the Senate’s agenda and is otherwise unrelated to the human trafficking bill.

The Senate reached an unexpected stalemate last week on bipartisan legislation that would combat human trafficking when Democrats said they became aware of an anti-abortion provision in the bill.

That provision would bar the use of criminal fines collected in a victims’ fund from being used to pay for abortions. Democrats said they would block the bill until Republicans removed the restriction, which Republicans said was in accordance with existing law.

The Senate is expected to vote to end debate on Tuesday, which would require at least 60 votes. Republicans hold 54 seats.

It has been four months since President Obama chose Ms. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to succeed Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., whose outspoken, liberal approach to leading the Justice Department made him unpopular with many congressional Republicans.

Democrats have been quick to mention that Ms. Lynch has had one of the longest waits of any attorney general nominee in modern times. The last to undergo such a lengthy confirmation process was Edwin Meese III, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and waited more than a year during a Justice Department investigation into his business and personal dealings.

Adam Jentleson, spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said there was no need for further delay.

“There is nothing stopping the Senate from confirming Lynch and continuing to debate the trafficking bill this week, except Senator McConnell’s unwillingness to bring her nomination up for a vote,” he said in a statement.

“For months and months, Republicans have failed to move forward with her nomination using any excuse they can, except for any credible objection to her nomination itself,” Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat, said in a statement. “It’s time for Republicans to stop dragging their feet on Loretta Lynch.”

Mr. McConnell said on Sunday that he has not decided whether to support Ms. Lynch, who has been criticized by many conservatives for her assertion that Mr. Obama’s executive action on immigration was legal.

“I think the attorney general nominee is suffering from the president’s actions,” he said.

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