[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S1575]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            LYNCH NOMINATION

  Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, I rise today to speak on two topics. The 
first topic is to urge my colleagues to bring up the vote on Loretta 
Lynch right away. The delay on her nomination to be Attorney General 
has gone on long enough, and there are no longer any legitimate 
excuses. She is by all accounts an excellent candidate. She is highly 
qualified, and she has bipartisan support in the Committee on the 
Judiciary. No one has questioned her stellar credentials. Her 
nomination has been held up for too long. In fact, Republicans have 
held up her nomination longer than the five most recent Attorney 
General nominees combined. But now her nomination has been tied to a 
piece of legislation that Republicans themselves have poisoned. Why are 
they putting poison pills in their own legislation? They took a 
perfectly good bipartisan bill and ensured it would go nowhere. Then 
they took a perfectly qualified Attorney General nominee and tied her 
vote to their poisoned legislation.
  The majority party is getting in its own way when it comes to the 
major responsibilities of governing. It is time for the Republicans to 
act like the majority and govern. This is the difference between being 
in the majority and being in the minority. Putting poison pills in 
legislative vehicles may be an odious practice, but it is normally 
reserved for the minority party--the party that is not in charge. 
Generally speaking, you do not poison your own piece of legislation.
  The American people have given the keys to the car to the Republican 
Party, and now they need to drive the car. This is the difference 
between being in the minority and the majority. Governing includes 
giving advice and consent on nominations. This is a particularly 
important nomination. The Attorney General is the top law enforcement 
official in the country. He or she is responsible for enforcing our 
Nation's laws, protecting national security, and upholding our 
constitutional rights.
  This last role is vital at a time when the DOJ is investigating 
violations of constitutional rights by local law enforcement agencies. 
Just last week, DOJ released a scathing report on the deep and 
pervasive racism in the Ferguson, MO, police force. In that report, the 
Department described shocking practices: systematic targeting of 
African Americans and an abuse of power to collect enormous amounts in 
fees. In a city with a population of 21,000 people, 16,000 people have 
outstanding arrest warrants--16,000 people. That is three-quarters of 
Ferguson's population. Those arrest warrants are overwhelmingly issued 
to Ferguson's African-American population--92 percent, to be exact. 
Emails and other documents DOJ collected prove the Ferguson police 
force acted with racial animus.
  If confirmed, Ms. Lynch would continue DOJ's task of investigating 
unconstitutional policing across the country. She faces weighty 
issues--the over-militarization of our police, our policing practices, 
and reforming our sentencing guidelines, just to name a few.
  As the first African-American woman to serve as Attorney General, 
this would be a historic nomination and a crucial one.
  At a time when the public's trust in law enforcement is badly eroded, 
we need to confirm Ms. Lynch as our Attorney General and let her get to 
work on fighting for our civil rights.

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