By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the second time in two days, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to break a legislative deadlock that has left the fate of a human trafficking bill in doubt and put U.S. attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch in limbo.
By a vote of 57-41, three short of the minimum needed, the bill cracking down on domestic human trafficking failed to clear a procedural hurdle.
While the bill was expected to enjoy broad bipartisan support, most Democrats are blocking progress on it to protest anti-abortion language inserted by Republicans.
In turn, Republicans have linked the fate of President Barack Obama's nominee to replace retiring Attorney General Eric Holder to passage of the trafficking bill.
"We're not going to go to Lynch until after the bill is completed," Senator John Barrasso told Reuters.
Asked if a vote to confirm Lynch will continue to be held up, even if the human trafficking bill is delayed for months, Barrasso, a member of Republican leadership said: "That's the plan."
The standoff has senators from both parties alternately seething or expressing embarrassment over yet another show of partisan bickering.
"And so Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar. That is unfair … it is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate," said Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat.
Durbin's "back of the bus" quip was a reference to a pre-civil rights era when African-Americans were openly discriminated against.
As the Senate remained paralyzed, some members held onto hope that the two sides would negotiate a way out. But no progress was apparent yet.