Bill could delay vote on Lynch

The Senate will not consider the nomination of Loretta Lynch to be attorney general until it moves forward on a stalled human trafficking bill, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday.

McConnell said last Tuesday that he would hold a vote this week on Lynch's nomination, which is the next item on the Senate's agenda and is otherwise unrelated to the human trafficking bill.

The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., would combat human trafficking. But the Senate reached an unexpected stalemate last week when Democrats said they became aware of an anti-abortion provision in the bill.

That provision would bar the use of criminal fines collected in a victims' fund from being used to pay for abortions.

New York Times