President Barack Obama is fed up with the Republican-controlled Senate for its failure to confirm Loretta Lynch as Attorney General.
“Call Loretta Lynch for a vote. Get her confirmed. Put her in place. Let her do her job. This is embarrassing, a process like this,” Obama said during a White House press conference.
“We have this crazy situation where a woman who everybody agrees is qualified, who has gone after terrorists, who has worked with police officers to get gangs off the streets, who is trusted by the civil rights community and by police unions … has now been sitting here longer than the previous seven attorney general nominees combined,” he said, referencing the five-month wait as Republicans have tied the confirmation to an unrelated sex trafficking bill.
“What are we doing here?” the president asked. “I have to say, there are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far. This is an example of it. It’s gone too far. Enough. Enough.”
On Thursday, leaders from both sides said they would be taking action. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he planned to bring the sex trafficking bill up for a vote next week so that they could move on to the confirmation, while Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned that further delays would force him to use procedural rules to try and force a vote.