Loretta Lynch is confirmed as attorney general
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Updated: The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. attorney general after a vote earlier today to end debate on her nomination.
Lynch, who served as the Brooklyn U.S. attorney, is the first black woman to be attorney general. Ten Republicans voted with Democrats to approve Lynch in a 56-43 vote, the New York Times reports. The Washington Post and Reuters also have stories.
She was nominated for the job in November. Only two other nominees for the job faced a longer wait, the Times says; Edwin Meese III, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, and A. Mitchell Palmer, nominated by President Woodrow Wilson.
At a hearing in January, Lynch said her priorities in the job would include fighting terrorism and cybercrime, and improving relations between police and minority communities. She won confirmation despite controversy over her support of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, the Times says.
Lynch’s nomination to replace Eric Holder moved forward earlier this week after the Senate reached a deal on a human trafficking bill that was held up because of a dispute over whether a victims’ fund could be used to pay for abortions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had refused to schedule a vote on Lynch’s nomination until passage of the bill.
The compromise created two funding streams, one of which does not ban abortion funding.
