Filibuster Over Lynch Nomination

Nearly all Senate Democrats voted to block an anti-human trafficking bill on Tuesday over its abortion restrictions — prolonging an impasse that threatens to further delay a vote on Loretta Lynch as attorney general.
With the 55-43 tally, the Senate did not get the needed 60 votes to advance the trafficking bill to a vote for final passage. And it’s unclear what happens next to either that legislation or the Lynch nomination, as both sides on Tuesday showed no signs of relenting in the abortion fight.
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An amazing thing about Congress: Things can always get worse.

The Senate has now even found a way to disagree on a bill that would protect victims of sex trafficking. And in the process, that dispute has ensnared President Obama’s largely uncontroversial nominee for attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch.

On Tuesday, a measure that would create a victims’ fund, using fines collected from perpetrators of sex trafficking, failed to clear a procedural hurdle, leaving a bill that once had majority support in Congress in limbo.

The bill, sponsored by Senator...