Loretta Lynch, the first black woman to be nominated as attorney general is not going to get a vote until Senate Republicans force Democrats to vote on the
human trafficking bill Republicans poisoned with an anti-abortion provision. So
says Mitch McConnell.
"This will have an impact on the timing of considering a new attorney general," McConnell told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." "I had hoped to turn to her next week, but if we can't finish the trafficking bill, she will be put off again." […]
"We have to finish the human trafficking bill," McConnell said. "The Loretta Lynch nomination comes next." […]
Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the judiciary committee, said McConnell's argument that the Senate first needs to pass the trafficking bill amounts to a "hollow excuse."
With this ultimatum, it's going to be difficult for McConnell to continue to try to paint the Democrats as the problem in holding up the anti-trafficking law. Beyond that, the narrative he's establishing by holding up this particular nomination, well, it stinks. Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that the Republican leader who couldn't be bothered to attend ceremonies surrounding the 50-year anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" would continue to obstruct the confirmation of the first black woman ever nominated for attorney general.
So much for that whole "rebranding" thing to make the GOP more friendly to women and minorities.