(Politico) – Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is warning he will use hardball floor tactics to force a vote on stalled attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch if Republicans don’t call her up for a vote “very soon.”
Because Lynch was approved by a Senate committee, her nomination could theoretically be called up by any senator with a majority vote, though such a move by anyone other than the majority leader is a serious breach of protocol. In a chamber where all senators wield significant power, great deference is usually paid to the majority party to set the Senate’s agenda.
But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has tied Lynch’s nomination to a stalled trafficking bill, thereby delaying her confirmation and infuriating Democrats. Although talks picked up Thursday on how to resolve a dispute over the trafficking bill’s abortion language, which Democrats strongly oppose, an agreement remained elusive.
Lynch has now waited more than five months for a vote since being nominated on Nov. 8, 2014, and appears set to wait at least a few more days given the lack of a deal on the trafficking proposal.