President Obama tore into Senate Republicans on Friday for delaying the confirmation vote on Loretta Lynch’s nomination to be the next attorney general during a joint press conference with the Italian prime minister.
“We’ve actually seen some outbreaks of bipartisanship and common sense in Congress over the last couple of weeks,” Obama said. “And yet what we still have is this crazy situation where a woman who everybody agrees is qualified … has been now sitting there longer than the previous seven attorney general nominees combined.”
Obama blamed the delay of Lynch’s confirmation vote on partisan politics. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said that the Senate will not vote to confirm Lynch until the Senate passes a human trafficking bill that includes provisions related to abortion.
“Nobody can describe a reason for it beyond political gamesmanship in the Senate on an issue that’s completely unrelated to her,” Obama said about the vote delay.
“What are we doing here?” Obama asked. “I have to say that there are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes to far. This is an example of it. It’s gone too far. Enough! Enough. Call Loretta Lynch for a vote. Get her confirmed. Put her in place. Let her do her job. This is embarrassing, a process like this.”