Yeah, but can she walk on water?

It is "unconscionable" that attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch has not yet received a confirmation vote in the Senate, the White House said Monday.

May be unconscionable but not unexpected.

"It's an unconscionable delay," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest, who noted President Obama nominated Lynch 128 days ago.

Earnest said there are no legitimate questions about Lynch's qualification for the post, citing her track record as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

He accused Senate Republicans of "playing politics" with the confirmation vote.

Playing politics? Ya think?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be "hard-pressed to make the case" he lived up to the promise of assuring Lynch would receive a fair confirmation process, Earnest said.


McConnell on Sunday said he would delay action on Lynch's nomination until Democrats agree to cooperate on legislation intended to combat human trafficking.

Isn't that called blackmail?

“This will have an impact on the timing of considering the new attorney general.

Now, I had hoped to turn to her next week, but if we can’t finish the trafficking bill, she will be put off again,” McConnell said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Why, Mitch, you're positively adorable when you're acting like a phuck!

Democrats blocked the bill last week over a provision that would prohibit the use of federal funding for abortions.

McConnell said the trafficking bill has "boilerplate language" that was in an identical bill that Democrats voted for three months ago.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ripped McConnell for the delay, comparing the move to hostage-taking.

"Any attempt to hold a confirmation vote hostage because of this abortion provision is a sham," Reid said from the Senate floor.

"A vote on the Lynch nomination has absolutely nothing to do with the trafficking bill."

Lynch's nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee late last month in a 12-8 vote, putting her on track to be confirmed as Eric Holder’s replacement.

Three Republicans on the panel voted for her: Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.).

With unanimous support from Democrats, Lynch would need the backing of four Republicans to become just the second attorney general of Obama’s tenure and the first African American woman to ever hold the position.

Still, it remains unclear where the decisive 60th vote for the nominee will come from.

Some Republicans have expressed misgivings about voting for Lynch, fearing she won’t show enough independence from the White House.

They have also criticized her for backing Obama’s executive actions on immigration, which would defer deportations for millions of people.

Earnest said "there is no Plan B" if Lynch's nomination is defeated.

"This is a career prosecutor who deserves strong bipartisan support," he said. "And she should get it."

Holder will continue to serve as attorney general as long as necessary until Lynch is confirmed, Earnest said.

"We have a very aggressive, very capable attorney general in Eric Holder, who remains in that office," Earnest said.

Holder is "using every authority that he has in that office to do the right thing for the country."

House Republicans held Holder in contempt of in 2012 for not complying with a congressional subpoena for more information over the botched Fast and Furious gun-walking operation.

House Democrats angry over Obama's classified trade meeting

By Kevin Cirilli & Vicki Needham

House Democrats are criticizing President Obama's administration for holding a classified briefing on trade with top administration officials, saying it's an attempt to push a trade program in secret.

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will meet with House Democrats on Wednesday in a classified briefing to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Members will be allowed to attend the briefing on the proposed trade pact with 12 Latin American and Asian countries with one staff member who possesses an “active Secret-level or high clearance” compliant with House security rules.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told The Hill that the administration is being “needlessly secretive.”

“Even now, when they are finally beginning to share details of the proposed deal with members of Congress, they are denying us the ability to consult with our staff or discuss details of the agreement with experts,” DeLauro told The Hill.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) condemned the classified briefing.

“Making it classified further ensures that, even if we accidentally learn something, we cannot share it.

What is USTR working so hard to hide?

What is the specific legal basis for all this senseless secrecy?” Doggett said to The Hill.

“Open trade should begin with open access,” Doggett said.

“Members expected to vote on trade deals should be able to read the unredacted negotiating text.”

In an interview with The Hill earlier this year, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Obama could attract a lot of Democratic votes on trade—if handled in the right and "transparent" way.

It’s not unusual for the administration to discuss trade negotiations in classified meetings.

Leaks of information can give trading partners an advantage in the talks, and could also tip off lobbying groups.

U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Matt McAlvanah told The Hill that the "administration has made and continues to make classified documents available to any member of Congress who is interested in reviewing them."

"We have released public summaries of our negotiating objectives, and we are now embarking on a new series of briefings for members and their staffs that go above and beyond past practices," he said.

An administration official said the briefing was classified because “these are sensitive, ongoing international negotiations.”

Senior Democratic aides representing pro-trade lawmakers vehemently pushed back against their party’s criticisms of the White House.

One called the complaints “bizarre” and said, “It just makes no sense.”

“For some inexplicable reason, they seem to think that, by shutting down the only chance Congress has to shape the contours of trade agreements, that will lead to greater transparency,” the aide said.

Another senior Democratic aide said the briefing is classified because it's “like a briefing on any international agreement—just like the Iran negotiations.”

“It's impossible to go into the detail members are asking for in an unclassified setting,” the aide said.

But DeLauro argued the classified briefing “flies in the face” of past talks and hurts the administration’s credibility.

“If the TPP would be as good for American jobs as they claim, there should be nothing to hide,” she said.

Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, said the administration's handling of its trade agenda is “even more secretive” than former President Clinton's push for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a deal that unions and liberal groups criticize as destroying U.S. jobs.

One former Democratic Capitol Hill staffer said the administration has “made clear at every turn that they're not interested in real transparency.”

“They have a very clear policy of withholding information, because they think secrecy is the only way to get the trade deal through Congress,” the former staffer said.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Froman will address House Democrats Wednesday in a nonclassified briefing on currency manipulation, an issue that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want addressed in the talks.

Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, and James Hoffa, Teamsters president, will appear at the briefing, along with Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to Vice President Biden.

They will discuss currency and labor’s broader concerns.

The Perez and Froman meeting will delve into TPP’s labor and investment chapters, as well as investor-state dispute resolution provisions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has raised concerns in recent weeks that those dispute provisions could be used to weaken U.S. law such as Dodd-Frank.

A source familiar with the meetings between the members and the administration said that any policies shown to members are not redacted.

Pelosi helped organize the briefings.

The minority leader has been focused on finding a “path to yes” for House Democrats to support Obama on trade.

A senior Democratic aide said this week’s three meetings are just the start of trade discussions with top level Obama administration officials.

Don't hold secret meetings on a subject that effects every American. We've had enough secret meetings with Uncle Dickie.