By JM Rieger and Niels Lesniewski

In his opening remarks Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell added to a growing Senate to-do list, praising bipartisan efforts on education policy, cybersecurity and trade promotion authority while saying bipartisan House-passed legislation replacing Medicare’s sustainable growth rate deserved a Senate vote, despite opposition from some conservatives. McConnell reaffirmed the Senate’s need to address human-trafficking legislation before moving to a vote to confirm Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, and McConnell also said Sen. Bob Corker’s bill giving Congress a role in reviewing any Iran nuclear agreement is a high priority. “The legislation is supported by a large number of Democrats. It’s no wonder why,” McConnell said of the Corker-sponsored Iran bill. “The bill is aimed at giving Congress and the American people a say in reviewing and approving an international agreement with such wide-ranging consequences.”