Salon.com > Alan Fram

Senators hope to revise background checks bill

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:49:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators backing gun control are discussing ways to revise the defeated Senate background check bill in order to help win the votes they need to resuscitate the measure.

Among the changes they might consider are limiting the fees buyers would pay at gun shows, adding provisions dealing with the mentally ill and altering language extending the background check requirement to all online sales, senators said Tuesday.

Supporters fell five votes short when the Senate defeated legislation last month that would have extended required federal background checks to more buyers.

That vote, four months after the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators at a school in Newtown, Conn., was a defeat for President Barack Obama and gun control advocates. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has promised to revisit the issue, perhaps by early summer.

Gun control groups have stepped up advertising, attendance at lawmakers' town hall meetings and other forms of pressure in an effort to convince at least five senators that they risk electoral defeat unless they reverse themselves and back the effort. Once senators make that political calculation, many lawmakers and lobbyists believe the legislation would have to be changed so those senators could justify switching their earlier vote.

Gun control bill clears Senate hurdle

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:51:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gun control supporters have won the first Senate showdown over restricting firearms, rejecting an effort by conservatives to derail a package of gun curbs before debate could even begin.

The 68-31 vote gave an initial burst of momentum to efforts by President Barack Obama and lawmakers, mostly Democrats, to impose gun restrictions following the December carnage at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Gun control supporters needed 60 votes to block the conservatives.

The legislation would subject more firearms buyers to federal background checks, strengthen laws against illicit gun trafficking and increase school safety aid. Advocates say the measures would make it harder for criminals and the mentally ill to get weapons.

Opponents say the restrictions would violate the Constitution's right to bear arms and would be ignored by criminals.

Congress nears deal on background checks

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:32:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan deal seems imminent on expanding background checks to more gun buyers, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama's drive to curb firearms violence.

Meanwhile, the Senate is ready for an opening vote on restricting guns as Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., set a roll call for Thursday on starting consideration of the firearms legislation. Odds are growing that Democrats will win enough Republican support to thwart an effort by conservatives and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to block consideration from even starting.

"I hope Republicans will stop trying to shut down debate and start engaging in the tough issues we were sent to Washington to tackle," Reid said.

Together, the developments were a boost for gun control advocates battling for restrictions in the wake of December's shootings that killed 20 first-graders and six staffers at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Even so, the ultimate fate of gun legislation remains unclear, clouded by opposition from many Republicans and moderate Democrats in the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-run House. Many critics say the proposal would violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms and burden law-abiding gun owners.

Obama: “Shame on us” if we forget Newtown

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama urged lawmakers Thursday to remember the children gunned down in America and not "get squishy" in the face of powerful forces against gun control legislation, as supporters struggle to win over moderate Democrats before a Senate vote expected next month.

Obama, flanked by grim-faced mothers who have lost their children to guns, said Washington must do something after the tragic mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., three months ago. He called out to the families of four children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School sitting in his audience.

"Shame on us if we've forgotten," Obama said. "I haven't forgotten those kids."

Obama's event comes as gun control legislation faces an uncertain future, even though more than 80 percent of people say in polling they support expanded background checks. Backed by a $12 million TV advertising campaign financed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, gun control groups scheduled rallies around the country Thursday aimed at pressuring senators to back the effort.

Obama said the upcoming vote is the best chance in more than a decade to reduce gun violence. He encouraged Americans, especially gun owners, to press lawmakers home from a congressional spring break to "turn that heartbreak into something real."

Senate bill won’t include weapons ban

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:35:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — An assault weapons ban won't be in the gun-control legislation that Democrats bring to the Senate floor next month, a decision that means the ban's chances of survival now are all but hopeless.

The ban is the most controversial firearms restriction that President Barack Obama and other Democrats have pressed for since an assault-type weapon was used in the December massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Rejection by Congress would be a major victory for the National Rifle Association and its supporters and a setback for Obama and the provision's sponsor, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

In a tactical decision, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., concluded that including the prohibition in the gun bill would jeopardize the chances for passage of any firearms legislation at all, taking away votes that would be needed to overcome Republican attempts to block the Senate from even taking up the issue.

"I very much regret it," Feinstein said Tuesday of the choice that Reid told her he had made. "I tried my best. But my best, I guess, wasn't good enough."

Senate panel OKs Dem gun background check bill

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:54:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a Democratic bill expanding required federal background checks for nearly all gun purchases.

The panel approved the measure by 10-8, supported by all Democrats and opposed by every Republican. Expanded background checks is the heart of President Barack Obama's proposals to curb firearms.

The sponsor is New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer.

He says the measure will reduce gun crimes. He also said he hopes he can strike a compromise on the measure with Republicans, which will enhance its chances of passing in the full Senate.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley is the top Republican on the panel. He says he believes the measure will ultimately lead to a federal registry of gun owners — which is illegal. Schumer said wouldn't happen.

New Congress: Fewer moderates make deals harder

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:50:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the next Congress cranks up in January, there will be more women, many new faces and 11 fewer tea party-backed House Republicans from the class of 2010 who sought a second term.

Overriding those changes, though, is a thinning of pragmatic, centrist veterans in both parties. Among those leaving are some of the Senate's most pragmatic lawmakers, nearly half the House's centrist Blue Dog Democrats and several moderate House Republicans.

That could leave the parties more polarized even as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders talk up the cooperation needed to tackle complex, vexing problems such as curbing deficits, revamping tax laws and culling savings from Medicare and other costly, popular programs.

"This movement away from the center, at a time when issues have to be resolved from the middle, makes it much more difficult to find solutions to major problems," said William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a private group advocating compromise.

In the Senate, moderate Scott Brown, R-Mass., lost to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who will be one of the most liberal members. Another GOP moderate, Richard Lugar of Indiana, fell in the primary election. Two others, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Olympia Snowe of Maine, are retiring.

Dems, GOP fight brewing over curbing filibusters

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 14:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — A brewing and potentially bitter fight over Democratic efforts to curb filibusters is threatening to inflame partisan tensions in the Senate, even as President Barack Obama and Republicans explore whether they can compromise on top tier issues such as debt reduction and taxes.

A potential showdown vote to limit Senate filibusters would not come until January. Democrats are threatening to resort to a seldom-used procedure that could let them change the rules without GOP support, all but inviting Republican retaliation.

That fight is looming as the newly re-elected Obama and GOP leaders prepare to use the lame-duck session of Congress that starts Tuesday to hunt for compromise on the "fiscal cliff" — the nearly $700 billion worth of tax increases and spending cuts next year that automatically begin in January unless lawmakers head them off.

That effort will be contentious enough without added animosity over efforts to weaken the filibuster, a procedural tactic that lets the minority party block bills that lack the support of at least 60 senators. Democrats seem likely to command a 55-45 majority in the new Senate that convenes in January, making 60 a difficult hurdle.

Senate blocks House disaster aid bill

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:21:00 +0000

The Democratic-led Senate blocked a House-passed bill on Friday that would provide disaster aid and keep government agencies open, escalating the parties' latest showdown over spending and highlighting the raw partisan rift that has festered all year.

In a tit-for-tat battle, the Senate first used a near party-line vote of 59-36 to derail the measure from the Republican-run House. The House bill would fund federal agencies and provide $3.7 billion in disaster assistance, partly paying for that aid with cuts in two loan programs that finance technological development.

Then, Senate Republicans refused to let the chamber vote on a compromise offered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that was similar to the House version but lacked the loan program cuts. A vote on Reid's measure was set for Monday afternoon, but Republicans seemed likely to prevail because Democrats would need 60 votes to win -- exceeding the 53 votes they have.

The basic dispute pitted GOP objections that the bill's emergency spending was too costly against Democratic complaints that cutting the energy loan programs would stifle the economy and cost jobs.

Senate will have to return health bill to House

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:39:00 +0000

Senate Republicans learned early Thursday that they will be able to kill language in a measure altering President Barack Obama's newly enacted health care overhaul, meaning the bill will have to return to the House for final congressional approval.

It appeared initially that deleting the provisions, dealing with Pell grants for low-income students, should not cause major problems for Democrats hoping to rush the bill to Obama and avoid prolonging what has been a politically painful ordeal for the party. Democrats described the situation as a minor glitch, but did not rule out that Republicans might be able to remove additional sections of the bill.

The president, who signed the landmark legislation into law on Tuesday, was flying to Iowa later in the day for the first of many appearances he will make around the country before the fall congressional elections to sell his health care revamp.

Obama was appearing in Iowa City, where as a presidential candidate in 2007 he touted his ideas for health coverage for all. His trip comes with polls showing people are divided over the new health law, and Democratic lawmakers from competitive districts hoping he can convince more voters by November that it was the right move.

Obama’s health care plan picks up support

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:35:00 +0000

President Barack Obama's much-challenged health care overhaul gained traction Wednesday as a liberal lawmaker became the first to switch his opposition, and Catholic nuns publicly broke with the bishops to declare their support.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, long a supporter of Medicare-for-all, voted against the House Democratic bill in November because it did not go far enough in creating a robust government-run plan to compete with private insurance. But Kucinich said Wednesday that the bill coming before the House represents the best chance to expand coverage to the uninsured, even if it does not include a public plan.

At a Capitol Hill news conference, Kucinich said his decision was a combination of pragmatism and concern about the impact that defeat of the health care bill would have on Obama's presidency.

"You do have to be very careful that the potential of President Obama's presidency not be destroyed by this debate," said Kucinich. "Even though I have many differences with him on policy, there's something much bigger at stake here for America."

Kucinich said he'd met with Obama four times to discuss the health overhaul, most recently on Monday when he flew back to Ohio with the president aboard Air Force One.