Posted on 03/16/2015 4:43:07 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
As a partisan clash over abortion threatens to further delay Loretta Lynch’s confirmation vote, the White House lashed out at Senate Republicans Monday, calling the brinksmanship surrounding her nomination for attorney general “unconscionable.”
“There is no question that Republicans are playing politics with the nomination,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday. “It should come to an end.”
Story Continued Below
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed the Senate will finish work on a human trafficking bill before taking up Lynch. But that trafficking measure includes abortion language that most Democrats would filibuster unless it’s removed.
Now, Democrats want a win on the abortion issue — and a prompt vote on Lynch . “There is a quick and very easy solution: Take the abortion language out of the bill,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor on Monday. “The Republican leadership doesn’t seem to be interested in a solution, though. The Senate Republican leadership, they’re all too anxious to shut down debate without fixing the problem.”
But GOP leadership is sticking by McConnell’s strategy. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said the choice to delay Lynch until after the Senate finishes the trafficking bill is “exactly the right decision.”
“There’s no excuse for not passing this legislation,” Cornyn, the chief Republican backer of the trafficking bill, said Monday. “All the excuses that have been raised are phony excuses.”
So far, neither party seems willing to back down, which means Lynch’s fate could hang in limbo for days or even weeks. Lawmakers only have two weeks in session before they leave town for a long Easter recess, and neither party seems ready to blink yet.
Lynch has already waited for a confirmation vote longer than any other recent attorney general nominee.
The overall impasse is an ugly moment for the Senate, stalling Lynch’s expected confirmation and a bill that appeared to have close to unanimous support before the abortion row. Notably, Democrats declined to take her nomination up during last year’s lame duck while they were still in power, convinced that Lynch would win broad bipartisan support even in a Senate controlled by the GOP.
But while Lynch’s hearings went smoothly, many Republicans decided to oppose her as a show of distaste for President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration and some of the Justice Department policies of Attorney General Eric Holder. On Monday, Tennessee Republican Bob Corker said he would oppose Lynch’s nomination.
Nonetheless, Lynch appears to have enough GOP support remaining for confirmation.
The current legislative stalemate, however, carries risks for both parties. Democrats appear to be blocking a bipartisan trafficking bill over an abortion provision that they didn’t notice was in the bill until it hit the floor. And they probably won’t be able to maintain party unity when the trafficking bill comes up for procedural votes this week, as several Democratic senators are expected to vote in favor of the bill even with the provision denying use of restitution funds collected under the bill for abortions.
That stands in contrast with Reid’s most recent success, when Democrats held firm and unanimously voted against a Department of Homeland Security funding bill laden with immigration riders, earning Democrats a big win with a clean, year-long DHs fund bill.
Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Joe Manchin of West Virginia are expected to vote with Republicans, sources familiar with their plans said. Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana is another possible defector. But it’s unlikely that Republicans will pick off enough Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster.
Democrats didn’t notice the abortion language as the measure sailed through committee to the floor, but now they don’t have enough votes to remove the provision through amendments. Most Democrats oppose the trafficking bill with the abortion language attached. And Reid (D-Nev.) is urging his 46-member caucus to kill the bill as written.
Despite the escalating dispute, and likely delays for the trafficking bill, GOP leadership on Monday stood by McConnell’s strategy. And Cornyn criticized Democrats for blocking the anti-trafficking legislation — which should be a clear win for both parties — over an abortion provision that has long been on the books in some form.
“It’s been law of the land for 39 years,” Cornyn said. “This is a phony issue. They’ve voted on it time and time again. … And we have them an opportunity to vote on it, and they rejected that. So, tells me they’re not serious.”
But Republicans, too, could take a political hit if they’re seen as holding up a confirmation vote for Lynch, who would be the first black woman to be attorney general.
Ever since the Senate confirmed Defense Secretary Ash Carter earlier this year, Democrats have been complaining that it Lynch, too, deserved an up-or-down vote by the full Senate. But they were infuriated at the latest obstacle thrown in her path to confirmation.
“I honestly cannot believe they would do this unfair, unjust thing to a good woman,” said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat. “It’s leverage, but tell you what: I don’t think the public is going to embrace this strategy. It’s a cruel strategy.”
Hillary Clinton also joined the fracas on Monday, lambasting Congress for the delays in several tweets.“Congressional trifecta against women today: 1) Blocking great nominee, 1st African American woman AG, for longer than any AG in 30 years….” Clinton’s first tweet read, followed by “…2) Playing politics with trafficking victims….3) Threatening women’s health & rights.”
Somewhat ironically, Lynch is being held up over an issue she said she would prioritize if confirmed. When Cornyn asked her in February to name three ways she splits with current attorney general Eric Holder, she instead listed her three top priorities for DOJ — combating trafficking among them.
“If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed as attorney general, I would bring my own personal approach to decisions about the Department’s priorities, an approach that would emphasize … committing additional attention to the scourge of human trafficking which subjects the most vulnerable among us to a modern-day nightmare of sexual slavery,” Lynch said in a written response to Cornyn.
With Lynch’s confirmation mired down in the abortion fight, Lynch’s supporters have tried to draw attention to that fact — arguing that installing her as the nation’s chief law enforcement official was one way to fight trafficking.
If senators wanted to combat sex trafficking, “they would want to see Loretta Lynch as attorney general and not be delaying a vote on her nomination,” Marcia Greenberger, president of the National Women’s Law Center, said on a conference call with reporters on Monday.
SC’s Loveable Lindsey could cast the tie-breaking vote. Stay tuned, Strom.
A vote for Loretta Lynch is a vote to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
IMO, all the “heated fights” are nothing more than smoke and mirrors to make us think the “rinos” are fighting against her nomination. I would be money that in the end, she gets confirmed and all will be smiling and happy in Washington. (To me, its all bull sh$t, play acting. I don’t trust any republican anymore.)
They are more than happy to offer a gold coin to their executioner. Corruption has many friends in Washington, but few out here in fly over country.
I think you have the right idea. It is sad but true that Washington politicians are all theater. Reality being the feathering of their own nests at the expense of the taxpayer. Normal political means are no longer effective.
imo, too...
“There is a quick and very easy solution: Take the abortion language out of the bill, simply do what we
want and every thing will be well,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said...
Well, isn’t that the truth?
IIRC, she's already said she would vote for Lynch. Backstabbing RINO!
Hillary! thinks a Trifecta is her, Huma, and a young
female intern to be named later.
The Gelded Old Pansies will cave.
Boehner and McConnell have already negotiated their surrender with Obama, this meaningless stuff is just theater for the masses so people still think we have parties that oppose each other.
Democrats complaining about the law of the land for 39 years...
Yet ignore obama on ignoring the law of the land immigration laws...
Why the heck is Mitch putting all his chips down on an anti-Trafficking bill? His chips should be on Keystone or any other important bills!
I heard Senator Cassidy, R-LA, this morning, and he was most unimpressive. He keeps defending the filibuster, when only Republicans allow it. Even with Mary Landrieu gone, what has changed?
They should retort (but won't) "Unconscionable?" Do Democrats even have a conscience? They effectively expel God from their party and support infanticide as a right, and require supporting those who promote a practice which typically results in a greatly increased incidence of infectious diseases and premature death, and is primarily responsible for the death of over 650,000 Americans.
And also reward indolence and penalize industry, selfishly spending the money of the latter to gain themselves support as the elite saviors of the former. Conscience? More like coercement.
Cave is all they know, and it’s what Republican primary voters seem to demand.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.