McConnell ‘hopeful’ for deal on trafficking bill

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that the Senate could vote early next week on a long-stalled anti-human-trafficking bill.

“It’s my hope that we’ll be able to go through an orderly amendment process and pass a trafficking bill early next week,” he said.

A breakthrough on the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act appeared Thursday, when a procedural vote was called off to give time for negotiations.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said that “at the moment it looks like there’s a serious possibility of … coming to an agreement.”

A Republican aide said senators are “closer to a deal than we have been in the past.”

{mosads}Democrats have blocked the anti-trafficking proposal for weeks because they believe it would expand the Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal funds on abortion.

A way forward on the legislation, however, hasn’t been finalized.

“We’re not there yet,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. “I remember we got into a problem with this initially because of the language in the bill, so every word is going to have to be read with this new language … and then we’ll see if we can make it to the finish line.”

But he did praise senators on both sides of the aisle for continuing to work toward a solution, adding that “progress has been made.”

If senators pass the anti-trafficking legislation early next week, McConnell said that they would then move to Loretta Lynch’s nomination to be attorney general, followed by legislation allowing lawmakers to weigh in on an Iran nuclear deal.