President Obama called on Senate Republicans to confirm Loretta Lynch as Attorney General in a video released Saturday.
“Republicans promised that Congress would function smoothly with them in charge. Here’s a small chance for them to prove it,” Obama said of Lynch’s nomination in his weekly address. “Congress should stop playing politics with law enforcement and national security. They should support good people in both parties who want to reform our criminal justice system. And that means they should end the longest confirmation process for an Attorney General in three decades, and give Loretta Lynch a vote.”
Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, is Obama’s nominee to replace Eric Holder atop the Justice Department.
Senate Republicans have held her nomination as part of negotiations over an anti-human trafficking bill. Democrats have blocked the legislation over a provision banning funding for abortions.
As a result, it has been four months since Lynch’s nomination, with no resolution in sight. That is the same length of time, Obama noted, as the seven previous Attorneys General waited to be confirmed.
“This is purely about politics,” the president said.
“They could bring her up for a yes-or-no vote at any time,” Obama said of Republicans.
