Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are calling on Loretta Lynch to say whether she supports executive action providing relief to millions of illegal immigrants.
President Obama formally announced on Saturday morning his decision to name Lynch, a U.S. attorney for New York, as his nominee to replace Eric Holder as attorney general. Lynch would be the first African-American woman to head the Justice Department and the second woman in history.
Reacting to her nomination, Cruz, R-Texas, and Lee, R-Utah, agreed that Lynch deserves “fair and full” Senate consideration, but said she should make clear whether she supports Obama’s decision to move forward with executive action granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants already in the country.
“The attorney general is the president’s chief law enforcement officer,” Cruz and Lee said in a statement on Saturday. “As such, the nominee must demonstrate a complete commitment to the law.”
“Loretta Lynch deserves the opportunity to demonstrate those qualities, beginning with a statement on whether or not she believes the president’s executive amnesty plans are constitutional and legal,” they continued.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., an outspoken opponent of any type of relief for illegal immigrants without first strengthening the nation’s borders, sent a release to reporters Friday pointing out his previous comments, along with similar points made by Cruz, Lee and Kentucky GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, that any nominee for attorney general must reject Obama’s plans to provide amnesty through executive action.
Obama again pledged Wednesday, one day after Democrats were roundly defeated at the polls and lost majority control of the Senate, to issue an executive order before the end of the year granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants unless Congress passes a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
Cruz and Lee warned Senate Democrats against moving forward with plans to hold a vote on Lynch’s nomination during the lame-duck session of Congress, when Democrats still have majority control before Republicans take over in the new year.
“President Obama’s attorney general nominee deserves fair and full consideration of the United States Senate, which is precisely why she should not be confirmed in the lame-duck session of Congress by senators who just lost their seats and are no longer accountable to the voters,” they said.
McConnell, in a tersely worded statement Friday night, also warned Senate Democrats not to move her nomination until the new year.
