WASHINGTON – Two senior Republicans want the incoming majority leader to take up Ash Carter’s nomination before an expected more contentious one for US attorney general.

Carter's nomination to replace Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel came too late for the Democratic-controlled 113th Senate to address it. That means a GOP-run upper chamber will take it up in January.

Also on the chamber's docket when senators return in the new year will be Loretta Lynch's nomination to become attorney general.

Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the incoming Senate minority leader, has yet to state which nomination he prefers to bring up first on the floor.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is slated to take over the Armed Services Committee gavel in January, and he wants McConnell to move Carter's nomination first — and quickly.

"I think DoD is probably the most important post," McCain told CongressWatch. "It wouldn't be a long, drawn out process, that's for sure."

Another SASC member, Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the new National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, said "I would think so" when asked if McConnell should do Carter's nomination first.

A McConnell spokesman had not responded to a reporter's inquiry at time of publication. ■

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