AG impasse 'gone too far,' Obama scolds

Congress’ GOP told to end ‘embarrassing’ vote delay

“There are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far,” President Barack Obama said Friday of Congress’ hold on his attorney general nominee.
“There are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far,” President Barack Obama said Friday of Congress’ hold on his attorney general nominee.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Friday hailed what he called "some outbreaks of bipartisanship and common sense in Congress" over trade, Iran and Medicare in recent days but went on to lacerate Republican senators for holding up his nominee for attorney general for months.

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AP

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy said Friday at the White House that he appreciates U.S assistance in dealing with an influx of people fleeing Libya and Islamic State militants.

In a White House news conference, held alongside Matteo Renzi, the visiting prime minister of Italy, Obama welcomed an emerging deal that would give him the authority to negotiate trade agreements with Asian and European allies. He also made clear he would accept a separate compromise plan to allow Congress to vote on any eventual nuclear agreement with Iran.

But he expressed consternation over the impasse of his nomination of Loretta Lynch to take over the Justice Department, calling it an "embarrassing" example of partisanship by a Republican majority that is stalling her confirmation, not because of concerns about her qualifications but as leverage in a fight over separate legislation.

"Nobody can describe a reason for it beyond political gamesmanship in the Senate on an issue that's completely unrelated to her," Obama said. "What are we doing here?"

With a tone of exasperation, he added: "There are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far. This is an example of it. It's gone too far. Enough. Enough. Call Loretta Lynch for a vote."

At least 51 senators -- all 46 Democrats and five Republicans -- have expressed support for Lynch -- enough to win confirmation if a vote were held.

The White House has complained repeatedly in recent days that Lynch, who was chosen more than five months ago to replace Attorney General Eric Holder, has now been waiting for a vote on the floor longer than the past seven confirmed attorneys general combined.

Some Republican senators initially delayed a confirmation vote because of opposition to Obama's executive order last year on immigration enforcement. Republicans are now delaying a vote to pressure Democrats to drop their objections to a human-trafficking bill in which funding for abortions has become a flash point.

Senate leaders this week reported progress toward scheduling a confirmation vote.

Negotiators are "continuing to make progress" toward a solution to the abortion language, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday before adjourning the Senate for the week. McConnell, R-Ky., said he will allow a vote on Lynch's nomination once the Senate passes the legislation.

The president's news conference Friday underscored the evolving situation in Congress now that Republicans control both houses. Obama seemed most enthusiastic about an agreement reached Thursday between Republican and Democratic lawmakers on legislation that would allow him to submit trade pacts to Congress for up-or-down votes without being subject to possible amendment.

Such trade promotion authority, which nearly every president has had since World War II, is considered crucial to concluding a sweeping agreement with Asian nations to lower trade barriers. Obama's biggest problem is not with Republicans, who are generally more supportive of such a policy, but with Democrats, who argue that such agreements hurt U.S. jobs and the environment.

Trying to appeal to critics within his own party, Obama argued that labor and environmental features of the trade legislation should satisfy their concerns.

"In many ways, this is the most far-reaching and progressive trade promotion authority that we've seen going through Congress," he said.

Asia has the globe's most populous and fastest growing markets, and the U.S. has to have access to sustain economic growth, Obama said. If the U.S. can't come to terms on the accord with other Pacific nations, China will step in to fill the void.

"If we do not help to shape the rules so that our businesses and our workers can compete in those markets, then China will set up rules that advantage Chinese workers and Chinese businesses," he said.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is going to Tokyo this weekend for high-level talks aimed at narrowing differences between the U.S. and Japan, which are by far the biggest economies involved in the proposed trade pact.

Froman said the broader group of countries is also nearing completion of the Asia-Pacific pact.

"There are open issues across the agreement, but everyone is in a closing mode," he said.

Iran deal

In his speech Friday, Obama seemed more resigned than excited about bipartisan legislation giving Congress a vote on a possible Iran deal if a framework announced this month is translated into writing by a June 30 deadline.

The U.S., Iran and five other global powers -- the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany -- have been trying to reach a deal that would limit Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon in return for the lifting of economic sanctions on the country.

While the president once vowed to veto legislation giving Congress a voice in the deal, calling such a bill an intrusion into presidential prerogatives, he said Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., had forged a "reasonable compromise" that he could live with.

Obama said he concluded that their revised bill "will not derail the negotiations" with Iran and expressed satisfaction that lawmakers agreed to exclude "a whole bunch of poison pills" -- provisions that would be objectionable.

He said he still had "some concerns" about the congressional involvement in presidential authority but said some language in the bill made it less offensive.

As for the ongoing dispute with Iran over when sanctions would be lifted under any future agreement, Obama said he did not want to get in front of Secretary of State John Kerry, who is the U.S. negotiator for the deal with Tehran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani insisted last week that they would not sign a deal unless it lifts all sanctions on its first day. Obama initially portrayed their comments as a reflection of internal political pressure, while pointing out that the initial framework agreement reached earlier this month allows for sanctions to be phased out once international monitors verify that Tehran is abiding by the limitations.

But Obama suggested Friday that the timing on lifting sanctions was less important than making sure they could be reapplied if Iran breaks its agreement.

"Part of John's job and part of the Iranian negotiators' job," he said, is to "sometimes find formulas that get to our main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their body politic that is more acceptable. Our main concern here is making sure that if Iran doesn't abide by its agreement, that we don't have to jump through a whole bunch of hoops in order to reinstate sanctions. That's our main concern."

Italian visitor

Obama also pledged Friday to work more intensely with Italy's prime minister on threats posed by instability in Libya that have led to an influx of people traveling to Europe across the Mediterranean.

Obama and Renzi said after an Oval Office meeting that they discussed economic and security concerns, including Ukraine and Islamic State militants. Obama said they also spent a significant amount of time discussing their shared concern over Libya.

"Given Italy's leadership role across the Mediterranean, the prime minister and I agreed to work together even more intensively to encourage cooperation on threats coming from Libya, including the growing ISIL presence there, as well as additional coordination with other partners in how we can stabilize what has become a very deadly and difficult situation," Obama said, using an acronym for Islamic State militants.

Italy is struggling to cope with an influx of people who are risking their lives to flee instability in Libya and other parts of North Africa and the Middle East by crossing the sea.

Renzi said he appreciates the assistance from the United States and said he and Obama were "fully on the same page."

"In the next few weeks, we will see that we will reach the fruits of this commitment," Renzi said, adding that it's not just a security matter. "It has to do with the justice and the dignity of mankind."

With Italy mired in a recession, Renzi also sought and received Obama's backing for his economic program, though it has yet to significantly improve the country's fiscal outlook.

"I have been very impressed with the energy and the vision and the reforms that he is pursuing to unleash the potential of the Italian people and the Italian economy," Obama said. "His willingness to challenge the status quo and to look to the future has made him a leading voice in Europe. And we're already seeing progress being made with respect to Italy."

Obama said he looked forward to hearing Renzi's assessment of the "ambitious economic reforms that he's pursuing to make Italy more competitive and to reinvigorate the Italian economy as a source of growth in Europe."

Renzi praised Obama's stewardship of the U.S. economy and in particular noted the drop in unemployment from double digits at the start of his administration to the current 5.5 percent as well as growth in gross domestic product.

Italy has had the opposite experience: growth in unemployment and a decline in GDP, Renzi said.

"Something just did not work at home," the prime minister said. "This is why I believe that the experience of the United States government is a model for the European economy, and that we have to be very careful about budgets, about the limitations, about our commitments."

Information for this article was contributed by Peter Baker of The New York Times; by Justin Sink, Carter Dougherty, Toluse Olorunnipa, Margaret Talev, Mike Dorning and Kathleen Hunter of Bloomberg News; and by Darlene Superville and Nedra Pickler of The Associated Press.

A Section on 04/18/2015

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