Senators See Progress on Lynch Nomination

The Senate returns this week in much the same position they were last week: still stuck on its human-trafficking bill, still keeping Loretta Lynch's attorney-general nomination in limbo, and still reviewing Congress's review role in any U.S.-Iran nuclear deal.

But members say they're making progress—and that this week could be different. Democrats and Republicans said Thursday that they were getting closer to a deal on human-trafficking, the first domino in a row that would allow the Senate to take up the Lynch nomination later in the week.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in Thursday evening's wrap-up that he expected the trafficking bill, which has caused a rift between the two parties over abortion language, could be finished early this week. That would put Lynch's nomination on the calendar, after 23 weeks of waiting, as early as Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has plans of his own, threatening last week to engage in some tricky procedural maneuvers to force a vote on Lynch even earlier. But with two of Lynch's supporters, Sens. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham, saying they won't go along with Reid's plan, it looks likely to fail.

The Senate will turn later in the week to the Iran nuclear-deal approval legislation, cosponsored by Sens. Bob Corker and Robert Menendez. After some massaging by Corker and new Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Benjamin Cardin, the bill is now poised to pass the upper chamber with bipartisan support and the White House's stamp of approval.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said that the House will take up the Iran legislation once it passes the Senate, but as that process plays out, the lower chamber will turn instead to a series of cybersecurity bills.

DEFENSE

With the Iran-deal approval bill expected to pass this week, the next question becomes whether opponents of the emerging U.S.-Iran deal can gather sufficient votes to override an expected presidential veto. Those conversations will begin in earnest after the approval legislation passes this week.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a full committee hearing on Wednesday morning titled, "Nuclear Agreement With Iran: We Can't Trust, Can We Verify?" that will include testimony from former Assistant Secretary of State Stephen G. Rademaker.

With the Iran approval bill off its agenda, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is turning this week to the State Department, holding two hearings on spending and budgetary requests for the department on Tuesday and Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday with Defense Department officials to discuss counterterrorism policy and programs. In the House, several Armed Services subcommittees will hold markups on the National Defense Authorization Act, which is expected to see the floor next month.

Read more about Congress' agenda this week on National Journal.