Republicans accused of slow-walking AG confirmation

Democrats are complaining over perceived delays in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on President Obama’s nominee to serve as the nation’s next attorney general.

During a meeting Thursday to review Loretta Lynch’s nomination, panel chairman Chuck Grassley said the committee would likely vote Feb. 26, after lawmakers return from their February recess.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the committee, said Lynch was being held to a “double standard,” arguing that Republican nominees were moved more swiftly through the panel during the latter years of the George W. Bush administration, when Democrats were in the majority.

But Grassley (R-Iowa) said there are “a number of requests to hold over her nomination.”

Republicans, who gave Lynch a generally warm reception during her confirmation hearing last month, now contend that she didn’t answer their questions very “thoroughly,” either during her hearing or in her written response.

“Now, I know there’s a lot of pressure to answer these questions quickly, but that doesn’t excuse incomplete answers,” Grassley said.

While some Republicans, including Sens. John Cornyn (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.) oppose Lynch’s nomination, she is believed to have enough support from other Republicans and almost universal support from Democrats that she is likely to eventually be confirmed.

Democrats appeared frustrated over the timing.

“Well, I guess because she is a woman, she is singled out,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).