{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.shelby.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/inthenews?ContentRecord_id=eb6c6432-7965-4add-b170-8d510498ae02", "Yellowhammer: Shelby: Obama's AG nominee should not be considered by lame duck Congress", "2014-11-10", "2014", "2014-11", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Richard Shelby", "S000320", "www.shelby.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2014 The newly elected Republican U.S. Senate majority does not take office until January of next year, but Republicans are expressing concerns that President Obama may attempt to take advantage of the upcoming lame duck session of Congress to push through his Attorney General nominee while Democrats are still in control.\r\nObama recently nominated Loretta Lynch, currently the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to succeed Eric Holder as the nation\u2019s top lawyer. The nomination is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.\r\nSen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Monday that considering the drubbing Democrats just took at the polls last week, it would be unwise for them to rush the Senate approval of such a high profile and important position.\r\n\u201cAfter the American people roundly rejected the agendas of Harry Reid and President Obama last week, we should not allow the president\u2019s nominee for Attorney General to be pushed through during the lame-duck session,\u201d Shelby told Yellowhammer. \u201cInstead, the nominee for Attorney General should be considered by the new Republican Majority through regular order next Congress.\u201d\r\nShelby is not alone in his assessment. A chorus of Republican lawmakers released statements on Monday urging the nomination to be done through \u201cregular order\u201d when the new Congress is seated in January.\r\n\u201cMs. Lynch will receive fair consideration by the Senate. And her nomination should be considered in the new Congress through regular order,\u201d said Minority Leader \u2014 soon-to-be Majority Leader \u2014 Mitch McConnell.\r\nSenators from the Tea Party wing of the GOP echoed that sentiment, as well.\r\n\u201cPresident Obama\u2019s Attorney General nominee deserves fair and full consideration of the United States Senate, which is precisely why she should not be confirmed in the lame duck session of Congress by senators who just lost their seats and are no longer accountable to the voters,\u201d Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee said in a joint statement. \u201cLoretta Lynch deserves the opportunity to demonstrate those qualities, beginning with a statement whether or not she believes the President\u2019s executive amnesty plans are constitutional and legal.\u201d\r\nPresident Obama has asked for Lynch to be confirmed \u201cwithout delay,\u201d but White House aides\u00a0say\u00a0he will defer to Senate leaders with regard to whether they should wait until January.\r\nAccording to\u00a0Politico, \u201cSenior Democratic aides, meanwhile, said no final decision on timing has been made, but they are strongly leaning towards moving in the lame duck.\u201d\r\nRegardless of when the confirmation hearings take place, it will likely be a hard-fought battle.\r\nAccording to\u00a0analysis by FiveThirtyEight, attorney general nominees have historically faced the most contentious confirmations of any cabinet position.\r\n\u201cAttorney general nominees are by far the most likely to face serious resistance,\u201dexplained\u00a0FiveThirtyEight\u2019s Harry Enten. \u201cThe average number of \u2018no\u2019 votes for all Cabinet position is just 4.5. AG nominees average 13 more than that \u2014 17.4 \u2018no\u2019 votes \u2014 far ahead of labor secretary nominees at No. 2, who have averaged 10.3 votes.\u201d\r\nhttp://yellowhammernews.com/politics-2/shelby-obamas-ag-nominee-considered-lame-duck-congress/", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.shelby.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/inthenews?ContentRecord_id=eb6c6432-7965-4add-b170-8d510498ae02"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7995439227670431, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}