CHINA TOPIX

03/28/2024 03:05:28 pm

Make CT Your Homepage

Senate Reaches Deal to Vote on Lynch Confirmation

lynch

(Photo : Reuters) Attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch, nominated by President Obama in November, will finally get a confirmation vote in the coming days under a deal announced Tuesday by Senate leaders.


U.S. Attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch will finally get a confirmation vote in the coming days after the Senate announced a deal that ends a weeks-long bitterly partisan impasse. She would be the first African-American woman to lead the Justice Department

Like Us on Facebook


"I'm glad we can now say there is a bipartisan proposal that will allow us to complete action on this important legislation," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday. "As soon as we finish the trafficking bill ... we'll move to the president's nominee for attorney general hopefully in the next day or so."

McConnell was referring  to a bill combating human trafficking that became a roadblock to Lynch's confirmation. Democrats have filibustered the anti-trafficking bill since it came to the Senate floor in late February due to abortion restrictions embedded within it, reports The Washington Post. Republicans refused to move forward with Lynch's confirmation until the trafficking bill is dealt with.

The deadlock was broken after both sides agreed on language specifying that a victims' fund established by the legislation would not be used for healthcare or medical services, and thus not for abortions. Instead, victims would be eligible for health care under a separate program already subject to the abortion restrictions.

Just yesterday, House Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) accused Republicans of "pushing around Loretta Lynch for sport" and trying to "dupe American women."

What had kept the two sides so far apart was the Republicans' addition of the Hyde Amendment to the anti-human trafficking bill. The amendment is a common provision attached to most government funds for health programs that bars such funds from being used to pay for abortions, reports CNN. But Democrats said it was an unprecedented expansion to non-taxpayer dollars.

The deal is a superficial fix that lets both parties claim a win, says CNN. It allows Republicans to say they've won their battle against funding abortions with government money, and Democrats to say they've avoided expanding the Hyde Amendment.

Real Time Analytics