The vote is 66 ayes, 34 nays the motion is agreed to, cloture having been invoked under the previous order there will be up to two hours of post cloture debate equally divided between the two leaders prior to a vote on the Lynch nomination,” the US Senate clerk read following the cloture vote.
In March, 2015, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he would delay a vote on the nomination of Loretta Lynch to become the next US Attorney General until the Senate could agree on the anti-trafficking legislation — a move that the White House called an “unconscionable delay.”
Lynch's nomination has pended longer than other modern US Attorney General nominee.
“Senate passes cloture vote on new Attorney General. Moves a step closer to replacing Eric Holder with [current US Attorney General] Eric Holder in a skirt,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said via Twitter on Thursday following the cloture vote results.
If the US Senate confirms Lynch later on Thursday, she will be the first African American woman to become US Attorney General.
