“The Senate’s vote today to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general finally brings to an end more than five months of baseless delays and partisan roadblocks that threatened the pursuit of justice in this country. Lynch will be a fair, tough and highly effective attorney general. This very welcome and badly overdue confirmation is the right move for the nation and for justice.

Lynch served two administrations with distinction and received bipartisan support from the Senate Judiciary Committee. She has earned enormous respect for her vigorous defense of civil rights, her tenacity in protecting consumers, and her deep commitment to making our country more fair and just. And as the first African American woman ever to hold the position, she will be an inspiring role model for a generation.

By voting to confirm Lynch, lawmakers finally put the country’s best interests ahead of partisanship. It’s about time. Lynch waited longer for a vote than any other nominee for attorney general in recent history. Her nomination was held hostage to the extreme anti-choice, anti-woman agenda that also denied aid for human trafficking survivors. This was a shameful chapter in Senate history.

Americans are fed up with a Congress that can’t get anything done or make the progress families desperately need. We applaud the senators who voted to confirm Lynch. Now, Congress must get back to the business of governing and move forward to make our workplaces more fair and family friendly and make quality, affordable health care available to all families.”