Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested Monday that lawmakers have found a bipartisan path forward on a human trafficking measure that stands in the way of a confirmation vote on Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch.
“My colleagues appear to be close to seeing the light on human trafficking and there seems to be a path forward,” Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor Monday afternoon.
On Sunday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said the bill could pass early this week, allowing lawmakers to tackle other legislation, including a bill requiring Congressional approval of a nuclear deal with Iran.
“My sense is, over the next 48 to 72 hours, that is going to be resolved, and we will move on to this Iran issue,” Corker told CNN.
A bill to help victims of human trafficking has stalled for weeks in the Senate thanks to Democrats, who are blocking the legislation over abortion language they say they failed to notice earlier. The measure includes language prohibiting money from being used to pay for abortion services, which Democrats oppose because the funds are derived from fees, not taxpayer dollars. They claim the provision constitutes an expansion of the existing prohibition.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has refused to hold a vote on Lynch until lawmakers pass the trafficking bill.
“When will the Majority Leader realize he continues to obstruct a qualified nominee for no reason?” Reid said.
Reid asked for a GOP lawmaker to come to the floor and provide an explanation for the Lynch delay, “that does not smack of Republican foolishness.”
Democrats, however, have refused offers by Republicans to change the abortion language in the trafficking bill so that it does not appear to expand existing prohibitions.
A new path forward may be imminent, however.
A top GOP aide told the Washington Examiner to “stay tuned,” for an announcement about the trafficking bill.
