Top Dem senator: GOP forcing black attorney general nominee to 'sit in the back of the bus'

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, on Wednesday raised the specter of civil rights era racism while criticizing Republicans for holding up a confirmation vote on attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch.

"Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar," he said. "That is unfair, it's unjust, it is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed to punt the confirmation vote until Democrats relent on a human trafficking bill. Though the trafficking bill sailed through committee, it has since been hamstrung by Democrats who spotted an extraneous provision restricting abortion funding.

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