The row over whether race is an issue in the hold-up confirming Loretta Lynch as attorney general escalated on Thursday, as another Democrat questioned the Republican party’s motivations in dragging out the process.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s News Nation, Texas representative Sheila Jackson Lee said she believed both race and gender were “a factor” in the delay.
“This is very emotional and it is, from my perspective, a factor in this – a woman, an African American woman. We don’t step back from that,” Lee said when asked if it was fair to bring race into the debate.
“The onus and the burden falls on the leadership in the Senate. They have not scheduled her for a vote. We’re outraged about that, and we believe that she is being treated disparately, and we don’t think that that is both appropriate and we don’t think the Senate is following its appropriate duties.”
Lynch, who was chosen by Barack Obama four months ago to replace attorney general Eric Holder, is the first African American woman to be nominated for the post. Holder was the first African American attorney general.
Lynch’s nomination was cleared by a Senate committee last month, but Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has yet to bring Lynch up for a vote.
McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said he would not proceed with the Lynch nomination until Democrats dropped their filibuster of a human trafficking bill over an anti-abortion provision.
The debate quickly turned into a heated back-and-forth over the possibility that some Republicans opposed Lynch on racial grounds. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, inflamed tensions on Wednesday when he declared in a floor speech that Republicans were asking Lynch to “sit in the back of the bus” in a reference to civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Arizona senator John McCain shot back on Thursday, dubbing Durbin’s comments “offensive and unnecessary” and demanding an apology. Durbin instead reiterates that Lynch deserved a vote.
“Why are we taking this important civil rights moment, when the first African American women in history is being given an opportunity to serve, and entangling it in the politics of the Senate?” Durbin said.
