The two senators who worked together on a bill to constrain Barack Obama on Iran on Sunday agreed to disagree about the Senate’s constraint of the confirmation of the president’s choice for attorney general, Loretta Lynch.
The Republican of the pair, however, said he thought the issue would be resolved “over the next 48 or 72 hours”.
Bob Corker, the Republican chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, and Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on that panel, appeared on CNN to discuss the nuclear deal with Iran. Both were also asked about the delay in Lynch’s confirmation, which has lasted for more than five months, causing growing controversy and prompting Obama this week to call the situation “embarrassing”.
Lynch’s confirmation to succeed Eric Holder has been held up by a partisan split over a clause in a human trafficking bill that deals with abortion provision.
Corker, explaining if not explicitly defending the reason for Republicans imposing the delay on Lynch, said: “I think this is going to be resolved in the earlier part of this week. A detail was found after [the human trafficking bill] passed committee and it has been held up.
“My sense is that over the next 48 or 72 hours, that is going to be resolved and we’ll move on to this Iran issue and so many other things. We have a number of things that are impatient for this logjam to end.”
Such procedural explanations cut little ice with the president. On Wednesday, at a joint press conference with the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, at the White House, Obama said: “Enough. Enough. Call Loretta Lynch for a vote, get her confirmed, let her do her job. This is embarrassing.
“There are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far. This is an example of it.”
On Sunday, Cardin, from Maryland, said: “I agree with President Obama that Loretta Lynch should have been on the floor for a vote long before now. This is the longest any attorney general has had to wait. It’s outrageous. This is a critically important position … it shouldn’t be connected to any other positions.”
Asked if the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, would have to force a vote using procedural measures – as he threatened to do this week – Cardin said: “We had a good week for bipartisanship on the Senate foreign relations committee and we are hopeful the nomination will be brought to the floor.
“There’s been absolutely no reason about her qualifications that would prevent this nomination from going forward, so I am hopeful that it will be on the floor this week.”
