Off the wire
• 1st LD: All U.S. major banks pass Fed stress test  • Australian dollar drops below 78 U.S. cents  • Roundup: Canadian stock market inches up over miners' rebound  • Roundup: U.S. stocks rebound on ECB moves  • UN Security Council approves short extension of Libya mission's mandate  • News Analysis: Clinton email controversy could hurt 2016 White House run  • Ireland's AIB bank sees first full year profit since 2008  • Chicago agricultural commodities close mixed  • Portugal to pilot test new air border control system in EU  • Judge charges Spanish ruling party in corruption scandal  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. Democrats pressure Senate Republican chief for vote on attorney general

Xinhua, March 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday pressed Senate Republican chief Mitch McConnell to schedule a vote for the confirmation of U.S. President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general.

Loretta Lynch, the current U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, was nominated by Obama in November to replace Eric Holder as the next justice chief. Democrats have long been criticizing the Republican-controlled Senate for deliberately slow-walking Lynch's confirmation.

"No one questions that Ms. Lynch is qualified and ready to serve, yet we are troubled that her nomination continues to languish on the Senate floor," said a letter to Senate Majority Leader McConnell, signed by all members of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

As the partisan fight over Obama's contested 2014 executive actions on immigration intensified, the nomination of Lynch, who vocally supported Obama's immigration policies, became bogged down.

The letter noted that Lynch's nomination had been pending for 117 days by Thursday, making her the longest pending attorney general nominee in three decades.

Lynch passed her confirmation vote by 12-8 last week, with three Republicans in the committee backing her nomination. To pass the final nomination vote on the full Senate floor, Lynch would just need a simple majority voting in favor of her. However, that would still be hard, considering public statements by most of the Republican Senators opposing her nomination.

If confirmed, Lynch will be the country's first black female attorney general. Enditem