According to the latest news, it is believed that the GOP Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) is looking negotiate, vote, and lock down a deal on gun control by this week. The move was supported by key Democratic senators who are also concerned about school safety measures.
The No. 2 Senate Republican, Cornyn, said in a statement that he has been having ‘good faith negotiations’ with Democratic Sens. including Chris Murphy (Conn.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) among others. It is believed that they will try to have votes on four different proposals. These proposals also include the narrow background checks measure proposal that is supported by President Trump.
GOP Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) issued a statement, “We’re talking to Senator Murphy, and others, Senator Blumenthal, there’s some other things they said they would like to have a vote on so we’re trying to figure out what those are and if it’s possible to come up with a reasonable list of four, you know two on each side, things we could vote on to get this done … this week.”
On Tuesday, both parties met in a closed door caucus after which Cornyn believes that they will check back in with each other to discuss multiple strategies.
The White House understands that the matter should be dealt as a group which is why the Senate would need the consent of every senator to quickly schedule gun control votes.
In the past few days, the lawmakers have found themselves under serious pressure to have votes in the Senate in the coming week. In addition, there have been talks in place to pass new legislation at the earliest following the mass shooting incident at a high school in Florida.
When asked, the spokesman for Murphy did not respond to a request for comment immediately to inform about the measures the Democratic senator was willing to vote on. It is believed that he is known as a leading advocate on gun control.
On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Monday that only passing the Senate legislation would amount to an ‘abject failure’ despite he is the co-sponsor.
“If all Congress does in response to the Parkland shooting is to pass the Fix NICS bill, it would be an abject failure and a dereliction of our duty,” Schumer added.
Charles Schumer further said that the Democrats are pushing for universal background checks which include the closing of the “the gun show and internet sales loopholes that allow guns to fall into the wrong hands.”
