[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5495-5496]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            LYNCH NOMINATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Wall Street Journal had a great 
editorial today. To show you how senseless it was, I will read the 
headline: ``The GOP uses its advice and consent power to beat Harry 
Reid.''
  Think about that, a major newspaper in this country has the audacity 
to say: ``The GOP [Republicans] uses its advice and consent power to 
beat Harry Reid.''
  Reading the editorial, what they are talking about is that the 
Republicans were very smart in delaying Loretta Lynch to be confirmed. 
The reason she was delayed is because a very vital issue came up with 
the trafficking bill. It dealt with women's reproductive rights, and it 
took a long time to work that out. In fact, it took a long enough time 
to work it out until the Republicans capitulated to what we wanted.
  We protected the women's right to choose. The Hyde language no longer 
allows, as was in the underlying legislation, the Hyde language to 
apply to nontaxpayer money. So for them to say they beat Harry Reid, 
they didn't beat Harry Reid. What they did was beat up on themselves.
  To think that they beat Harry Reid, I repeat, all they did was beat 
up on themselves.
  Later today, the Senate will do something it should have done months 
ago, confirm Loretta Lynch as the 83rd Attorney General of the United 
States.
  She is as qualified a candidate as I have ever seen in this Senate, 
which is more than three decades--so qualified,

[[Page 5496]]

in fact, today will mark the third time she has been confirmed by the 
Senate.
  Twice before, Loretta Lynch was unanimously confirmed as the U.S. 
attorney for the Eastern District of New York. By all accounts, Loretta 
Lynch's confirmation this time around should have sailed through the 
Senate. For a while, it seemed it would. We had Senators, Republican 
Senators, saying what a wonderful woman she is. She is great. They were 
very vocal in their support. The senior Senator from Utah, the senior 
Senator from South Carolina, the junior Senator from Arizona--but it 
soon became apparent the Republican leadership pressed these people a 
little bit, and suddenly they weren't as interested in moving the Lynch 
confirmation along, even though that is what they said they should do. 
Her nomination has dragged on for months.
  In fact, I repeat, she has waited longer to be confirmed than the 
first 54 Attorneys General combined, longer than Attorneys General 
nominated by every President from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson.
  What should have been a quick confirmation would be anything but 
that. Instead, Ms. Lynch became the first Attorney General nominee in 
history to be filibustered.
  The editorial from the newspaper is very insulting. They said: ``Mr. 
Reid accused Republicans of racism and sexism.''
  I dare--I dare anyone to find a single word that I said dealing with 
race or sex. I didn't do that, but maybe that is something the 
Republicans hoped I would do, but I didn't do that.
  There was even a hunger strike. Now, listen to this, the depth of 
this editorial from the Wall Street Journal:

       Al Sharpton's activist group vowed a hunger strike until 
     Ms. Lynch received a vote. (Al, please go through with it.)

  I guess I was naive in thinking my Republican colleagues would treat 
Loretta Lynch with the dignity she and her office deserved. Perhaps my 
mistake was forgetting that for Republicans, this isn't about Loretta 
Lynch, it is about President Obama because Republicans will do 
everything, anything they can to make President Obama's life more 
difficult. They said they would do that when he was elected, and they 
have stuck with it.
  President Obama's Cabinet officials have been treated worse than any 
President in history. Today's vote on Loretta Lynch marks the seventh 
cloture vote the Republicans have forced on a Cabinet official during 
the Obama administration.
  Forcing cloture, that is terminating the filibuster, was something 
that was rare in the entire history of this country. It used to be 
Cabinet officials were filibustered only in the most extreme 
circumstances, but once Ms. Lynch is confirmed, five sitting members of 
the President's Cabinet will have been filibustered by Senate 
Republicans.
  To put that in contrast, it rarely happened before, rarely. Unlike 
today's Senate Republicans, Democrats showed restraint in our 
disagreements with the President's appointments. We showed great 
deference to his choices for the President, and by that I am talking 
about the last President, George W. Bush.
  Some may say that is water under the bridge. There will be those 
Republicans who, after confirming Loretta Lynch today, will say all's 
well that ends well. They are wrong.
  While I am pleased she will be confirmed as Attorney General, her 
nomination process is proof of all that is wrong with Republican Senate 
leadership. Senate Republicans made Loretta Lynch's nomination linger 
more than 10 times longer than the average Attorney General--and you 
have heard what I said before about that--just to spite Barack Obama.
  The viciousness with which the majority leader's party has treated 
the President is unconscionable and is bad for our country. Republicans 
have become so blinded by their nastiness that they have even made 
filibusters of Cabinet officials the norm around here. The first time 
we had a Defense Secretary filibustered, they did it. The first time 
for an Attorney General, they did it.
  How sad that in the future we can expect delayed and filibustered 
nominations such as Loretta Lynch to no longer be the exception but the 
rule. This is so unfortunate that this is how Republicans portend to 
govern.
  Mr. President, what is the order of the day?

                          ____________________