Loretta Lynch heads for confirmation as attorney general
WASHINGTON— Five months after she was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as attorney general, Loretta Lynch will finally get a confirmation vote in the Senate.
Lynch is expected to win approval with the support of all Democrats and at least five Republicans in the vote set for Thursday. Now U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, she would replace Eric Holder and become the nation’s first black female attorney general.
Lynch has had to wait far longer than most recent attorney general nominees to be confirmed, for a variety of political reasons. Most recently, Republican leaders decided to hold off on her confirmation until an unrelated bill on human trafficking was completed, but it hit unexpected gridlock over an abortion funding provision and the dispute dragged on for six weeks.