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In the beginning, members of the Republican Party claimed Loretta Lynch’s confirmation for U.S. Attorney General was being held up over President Obama’s sweeping executive actions on immigration.

That didn’t work.

Now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says the confirmation has been delayed until Congress works out gridlock over a human trafficking bill, reports the Washington Post, citing his appearance Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

The Washington Post reports:

“It’s not a threat. We need to finish this human trafficking bill that came out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously . . . because the next week we’ll be doing the budget and the next two weeks after that Congress is not in session,” McConnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”…

The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, authored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), has been stalled after Democrats accused Republicans of sneaking anti-abortion language into the bill. McConnell noted that Democrats on the Judiciary Committee unanimously agreed on the bill before forwarding it.

Obama nominated Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in November to replace outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who announced his resignation in September.

Lynch’s nomination came just days after Republicans won enough seats in mid-term elections to hold a majority in both houses. In an effort to be good sportsmen, Senate Democrats agreed to not process Lynch’s nomination until after the New Year when Republicans would take control.

In return, Republicans have blocked Lynch’s nomination at every turn. Aside from immigration and human trafficking, they tried to stall over her stance on civil forfeitures, another nonstarter.

Ash Carter, nominated as Secretary of Defense a month after Lynch, highlighted the delays. Carter breezed through his confirmation process in February. Fed up with the delays, Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has issued a statement calling on McConnell to halt the political gamesmanship. The Washington Post writes:

By continuing to stall Lynch’s nomination Republicans are failing yet another basic test of their ability to govern,” the statement said. “There is nothing stopping the Senate from confirming Lynch and continuing to debate the trafficking bill this week, except Senator McConnell’s unwillingness to bring her nomination up for a vote.”

Well said, Senator Reid. We only hope the Republicans are listening.

SOURCE: Politico, Washington Post, ABC News | VIDEO SOURCE: NDN

SEE ALSO:

Loretta Lynch Is One More Step Closer To Being Attorney General, But Facing Stiff GOP Winds

Eric Holder Says Race Is At Least Partly To Blame For His Struggles With Republicans

Listen to Roland Martin and the “NewsOne Now” Straight Talk panel discuss the GOP efforts to stall the Loretta Lynch Attorney General confirmation vote in the audio clip below.

GOP Delays Loretta Lynch Confirmation Again, Dems Push Back  was originally published on newsone.com