Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama’s attorney general nominee, may finally receive a vote on her historic nomination, thanks to a pending Senate deal.
Lawmakers were tantalizingly close Monday evening to an agreement on abortion language that has stalled action on an anti-human trafficking bill.
Once that dispute is resolved, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he would move the Lynch nomination to a vote.
Lynch’s nomination has taken on historic proportions and not just since she would be the first African-American woman to lead the Justice Department. No other nominee for attorney general has had to wait this long for Senate confirmation — 164 days — since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.
Senators and top aides who have been negotiating the issue for weeks were tight-lipped about the details of the emerging agreement but nonetheless were very
hopeful one would be reached as early as Tuesday.
“We’re still talking and I think we’re getting closer, but we’re not quite done yet,”
said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican who is running the talks for the GOP.
“We’re very close in the negotiations,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a member of the Democratic leadership, who is closely involved in the search for a compromise.
At issue is language in the anti-human trafficking bill, inserted by Republicans without the knowledge of most Democrats, that would prevent restitution funds
paid to victims of sex trafficking from being used to pay for abortions.
Democrats fiercely oppose the provision and have blocked the bill from moving forward until it’s removed.
Senate leaders are expected to talk about the emerging compromise at their respective party lunches Tuesday afternoon.
McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will do their regular post-lunch press conferences around 2pm.
If they reach an agreement on the abortion provision, it’s not clear how long it would take to finish the bill.
That could mean a few more days to get to a confirmation vote on Lynch.
Lynch’s nomination faces a few GOP critics, but has enough votes to get confirmed.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who plans to vote against Lynch’s confirmation, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on the “Situation Room” Monday he expects a vote “fairly soon.”
McCain pushed back against the notion that Republicans’ five-month refusal to bring Lynch’s nomination up for a vote was a form of retribution against Democrats.
Earlier on Monday, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow called the delay “politics at its worst.”
Lynch supporters have accused Republicans of delaying in part because she’s an African-American woman, a charge they dismiss.