Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) blasted the delay in confirming Loretta Lynch as the first African American female attorney general, making a segregation-era reference when attacking the Senate Republican leadership.
“Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar,” the No. 2 Democratic senator said Wednesday in a floor speech. “That is unfair. It’s unjust. It is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate. This woman deserves fairness.”
Lynch’s nomination, made official in November, is being held up over an unrelated dispute about an anti-abortion provision in an anti-human-trafficking bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday she’ll get a final confirmation vote once the bill is completed.
