[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4659-4660]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            LYNCH NOMINATION

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, one great responsibility that distinguishes 
the U.S. Senate is our constitutional role of advice and consent. We 
have a solemn duty to consider nominees for positions of great 
importance to the Nation, some of which are lifetime appointments. 
Every day that the nomination of Loretta Lynch to be the next Attorney 
General awaits a floor vote is another day the Senate fails to function 
as it should.
  The Attorney General is our Nation's top law enforcement official. 
The position is critical to protecting our national security and our 
most cherished civil rights. It is a position of honor and one that 
deserves respect. And even though Senators have not always agreed with 
the President's choice, there used to be a mutual respect for the 
position and the process of filling it. That proud history is being 
debased here in the Senate today. The Republican majority has turned 
this vital position--and the highly respected nominee--into a 
bargaining chip to be leveraged for political gain. This is not how to 
treat a position of such importance to law enforcement and our national 
security.
  When I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I did not support the 
nomination of Michael Mukasey, the choice of President George W. Bush. 
But I did not obstruct the process or deny the Senate a vote. To the 
contrary, we treated the position and the nominee with the historic 
respect they both deserve. Judge Mukasey received a floor vote just 2 
days after he was reported from committee and he was confirmed just 53 
days after his nomination was announced. That process stands in sharp 
contrast to that of Ms. Lynch. It has now been 28 days since she was 
reported out of committee and 137 days since her nomination was first 
announced.
  The treatment of this excellent nominee is beneath the dignity of 
this body. In January, Ms. Lynch testified before the Senate Judiciary 
Committee for nearly 8 hours and she responded to nearly 900 written 
questions. Not a single witness invited by Republicans opposed her 
nomination. When Republicans stalled consideration of Ms. Lynch's 
nomination in committee, Democrats noted the unnecessary delay and 
raised concerns about filling this vital position. Senator Cornyn 
dismissed this as ``faux outrage.'' But in November 2007, Senator 
Cornyn complained that a 7-week process on the Mukasey nomination 
threatened our national security. He issued a press release stating:

       It is imperative that the president has his national 
     security team at full strength and the unnecessary delay of 
     Judge Mukasey's nomination has prevented that. He deserves an 
     immediate up-or-down vote by the full Senate.

  Loretta Lynch's nomination has now been pending more than 19 weeks. 
Where is the outrage now? Where is the concern for the President's 
national security team to be at full strength?
  Similarly, in early October 2007--just 3 weeks after Mr. Mukasey's 
nomination was announced, the Republican leader criticized me for not 
yet having set a hearing date, saying that Democrats should ``not hold 
Judge Mukasey hostage while they play partisan games.'' That was after 
3 weeks. We are now on week 19 for Ms. Lynch--that is more than six 
times as long and Senator McConnell has openly linked her confirmation 
to partisan politics by linking her vote to demands on legislation.
  Senate Republicans' handling of the nomination process for the 
Nation's top law enforcement officer has been disgraceful. And all of 
this after Senate Democrats agreed not to process her nomination during 
the lameduck because the current majority leader reassured us that she 
would be treated fairly. Unfortunately, that has not been

[[Page 4660]]

the case. No one can deny that Ms. Lynch is eminently qualified for the 
job. No one can deny that her nomination is a historic one. No one can 
deny that her record safeguarding our Nation from terrorists and 
criminals is beyond reproach. And no one can deny--based on the 
objective numbers--that she is being treated worse than her 
predecessors. Ms. Lynch has been treated unfairly compared to previous 
Attorneys General nominees by whatever metric one chooses.
  Republicans are holding back a top Federal prosecutor who has an 
unparalleled record keeping Americans safe from terrorists. During her 
tenure as U.S. attorney, the Eastern District of New York has 
prosecuted significant terrorism cases. This includes the successful 
prosecution of six individuals for their roles in a 2009 Al Qaeda plot 
to attack the New York subway system; the convictions of four 
terrorists plotting to attack John F. Kennedy Airport; and the 
conviction of a terrorist who attempted to detonate an explosive device 
at the New York Federal Reserve.
  Rudy Giuliani, the former Republican Mayor of New York and a proud 
law-and-order conservative, urged the Senate last week to end the delay 
and to confirm Ms. Lynch. He said:

       This woman is entitled to confirmation: not as a woman, not 
     as a man, but as a highly qualified candidate . . . Loretta 
     Lynch is more than qualified. She's overqualified to be 
     attorney general.

  My friend Louis Freeh, former Director of the FBI and Federal judge, 
has written that ``[i]n my twenty-five years of public service--23 in 
the Department of Justice--I cannot think of a more qualified nominee 
to be America's chief law enforcement officer.'' He has further stated 
that ``Ms. Lynch is an atypically non-political appointment for that 
office, a career professional without any political party ties or 
activity.''
  If we do not confirm Ms. Lynch before the upcoming recess, her 
nomination will be pending before the full Senate for 46 days by the 
time we return on April 13. That is nearly twice as long as all of the 
past seven Attorneys General combined: Richard Thornburgh, 1 day; 
William Barr, 5 days; Janet Reno, 1 day; John Ashcroft, 2 days, Alberto 
Gonzales, 8 days; Michael Mukasey, 2 days; and Eric Holder, 5 days. 
This delay is an embarrassment for the U.S. Senate.
  I am concerned that the Senate will have to file a cloture motion and 
vote to overcome a filibuster of Ms. Lynch's nomination. This would be 
unprecedented and unwarranted. No Attorney General nomination in our 
history has ever been met with a filibuster. We have never needed a 
cloture vote for an Attorney General nomination. It appears that Senate 
Republicans want to make history for all the wrong reasons. It is time 
to stop playing politics and lead.

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