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The No. 2 Democrat in the Senate on Wednesday accused Republicans of making attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch "sit in the back of the bus."

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"The Republican majority leader announced... that he was going to hold this nomination of Loretta Lynch until the bill which is pending before the Senate passes, whenever that may be," Durbin said. "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's unjust."

Durbin was referencing Rosa Parks, an African-American civil rights activist who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus.

The office of Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) pushed back, arguing Democrats could have made Lynch’s nomination a priority late last year when they still had the majority.

"The remarks made this morning by the Democratic leadership were misguided, shameful and, as their own record in the majority shows, hypocritical," Grassley’s office said in a statement.

A vote on Lynch could be delayed until April if it does not take place next week. The Senate is set to go on a two-week recess one week from Friday.