Senate

McConnell sets up final Lynch vote

by Jordain Carney - 04/22/15 4:50 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Loretta Lynch could get a confirmation vote for attorney general on Thursday.

The Kentucky Republican said Wednesday afternoon that if Lynch’s nomination survives a procedural vote expected in the morning, a final vote on her confirmation will occur two hours after the procedural vote at approximately 2 p.m.

{mosads}Without the agreement to limit the amount of debate time, Lynch’s nomination would have faced 30 hours of debate time likely pushing it into next week.

A procedural vote was first teed up on Lynch’s nomination late Tuesday night. The movement comes after senators unanimously passed a bill to curb human trafficking Wednesday.

Thursday’s vote will come approximately a month after Lynch’s nomination was originally expected to be taken up. But McConnell was adamant that senators would pass the anti-trafficking legislation before taking up her nomination.

McConnell told reporters Tuesday that he was “happy” with his strategy.

“Yeah, I’m happy with it,” he said, when asked whether he thought linking the two issues was the only way to get the trafficking bill through the Senate. “I’m happy with where we are. We needed to finish the trafficking bill, it’s an important bill.”

Tags Mitch McConnell