The 80-page bill includes provisions that would help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others and close the so-called boyfriend loophole by blocking gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners.

After mass shootings at a New York grocery store and a Texas elementary school that authorities said were committed by teenagers, the legislation would allow states to provide juvenile records to the national background check system for gun purchases.

Lawmakers said the Senate was likely to take its first procedural vote later yesterday on a motion to proceed to a bill from the House of Representatives that would serve as the Senate’s legislative vehicle.

“I believe that this week, we will pass legislation that will become the most significant piece of anti-gun-violence legislation Congress will have passed in 30 years. This is a breakthrough,” Senator Chris Murphy, the lead Democrat in the talks, said on the Senate floor. “And more importantly, it is a bipartisan breakthrough.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged to move forward as soon as possible, with an expected motion to proceed.

“This bipartisan gun-safety legislation is progress and will save lives. While it is not everything we want, this legislation is urgently needed,” Schumer said in a statement.

Schumer’s Republican counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, called the legislation “a commonsense package” in a statement pledging his own support.

With the 100-seat Senate split evenly, the legislation will need support from at least 10 Republicans to pass a procedural hurdle.

The biggest gun lobby in the country, the National Rifle Association, said on Twitter that it opposed the legislation because it could be abused to restrict lawful gun purchases. The politically powerful group’s statement could affect how many Republicans vote on the measure.

Senator John Cornyn, the lead Republican negotiator in the bipartisan talks, held out hope the legislation would succeed.

“We know there’s no such thing as a perfect piece of legislation. We are imperfect human beings. But we have to try, and I believe this bill is a step in the right direction,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor.

The legislation’s release yesterday would help ensure the odds of Senate passage before lawmakers leave for their two-week July 4 break. Some aides suggested lawmakers could stay into the weekend to vote on the bill.

The bipartisan group has been working on a deal to curb gun violence since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, less than two weeks after 10 people were killed in a racist shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

‘Red flag laws’

The measure announced yesterday does not go as far as Democrats including President Joe Biden had sought. Still, if passed, it would be the most significant action to combat gun violence to emerge from Congress in years.

Lawmakers reached agreement on a provision to encourage states to adopt “red flag” laws, in which guns can be temporarily taken away from people who are deemed dangerous. It also provides funding for states that use other forms of intervention to accomplish the same outcome.

The bill also aims to close the “boyfriend loophole” by allowing authorities to block gun purchases by those convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse against partners to whom they are not married. ― Reuters

Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2022/06/22/us-senate-poised-to-move-forward-on-first-significant-gun-legislation-in-decades/13562

The post US Senate poised to move forward on first significant gun legislation in decades first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The Arizona moderate’s position wasn’t different than other times she defended the filibuster, a legislative hurdle that requires 60 votes to start debate on a bill. But her surprise speech on the Senate floor came just before Biden was expected to meet with Democrats on Capitol Hill in an effort to rally his party around changing the Senate’s rules to bypass GOP opposition to the voting rights legislation.

“Eliminating the 60-vote threshold will simply guarantee that we lose a critical tool that we need to safeguard our democracy from threats in the years to come,” Sinema said.

Romney on the filibuster: ‘No power whatsoever’: Romney warns Dems of 2022 consequences if they change filibuster

Sinema said she supports the two pieces of voting rights legislation championed by civil rights advocates but wants more collaboration between Democrats and Republicans to protect voting rights.

“We need a sustained robust effort to defend American democracy, an effort on the part of Democrats, Republicans, independents and all Americans and communities across this country,” she said.

However, Sinema warned the bills are not enough to counteract state laws that restrict voting.

“These bills help treat the symptoms of the disease, but they do not fully address the disease itself,” Sinema said. “And while I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country.”

Biden says he wants filibuster change: Biden backs filibuster change to pass voting rights in Atlanta speech

As she spoke, several Republican members sat in the chamber, including those in GOP leadership: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. Thune at one point nodded at what she said and looked over at a group of his GOP colleagues.

“What she was speaking to is kind of what I think the desired state should be here in the Senate, and it’s hard but it’s, it’s doable. If people of good faith can sit down together,” Thune said.

Shortly after Sinema’s speech, Biden attended a Senate Democratic Caucus lunch to discuss the push to pass voting rights and potential changes to the Senate rules.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Biden told Democrats in the meeting that “the Senate rules are not sacrosanct. The Constitution is. The preservation of democracy is. But the Senate rules have changed often and they’re not sacrosanct.”

After Biden emerged from talks with Senate Democrats, he said he hopes Congress can pass voting legislation but is not sure if it will happen.

“I hope we can get this done. The honest-to-God answer is I don’t know whether we can get this done,” Biden said.

West Virginia Democrat Manchin, a staunch defender of the filibuster alongside Sinema, said Biden gave a “wonderful speech” and said that it was “very historical.”

Despite his comments on Biden, Manchin released a statement hours after the visit stating he will not vote to change filibuster rules.

“As I have said before, I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” Manchin said.

“Ending the filibuster would be the easy way out. I cannot support such a perilous course for the nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country by putting politics and party aside,” he added.

That legislation cleared the House Thursday morning and has now been sent to the Senate. Democrats and Biden are pushing lawmakers to make an exception to the chamber’s rules so it can pass the bill without Republican support.

The House passed the bill with two pieces of voting rights legislation – the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act – attached as amendments. This allows Democrats in the Senate to bring the bill to the floor and bypass a GOP filibuster, which requires 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to begin debate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said if Republicans do not help them pass the voting rights legislation, the Senate will vote by Martin Luther King Day, on Monday, to change the rules of the Senate regarding the filibuster.

Democrats could change the filibuster without Republicans, but Sens. Manchin and Sinema have stated they do not wish to change the filibuster.

The Freedom to Vote Act would set minimum federal standards on early voting and vote-by-mail options, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named after the late civil rights leader and congressman, would restore the Justice Department’s authority to review election law changes in states with a history of discrimination.

Biden’s trip to the Hill came two days after his speech in Atlanta in which he called for altering the Senate’s rules “whichever way they need to be changed” to bypass a Republican filibuster and to make way for the voting rights bills.

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Civil rights leaders called Biden’s speech on voting rights Tuesday a “good step” and “nice words,’’ but said the president didn’t do enough to call out fellow Democrats –including Manchin and Sinema. Some also complained the administration hasn’t outlined an aggressive plan of action.

“We’re looking for specifics,’’ Kendra Cotton, chief operating office of the New Georgia Project, said in a call with reporters Wednesday. “We wanted to hear him clearly articulate and educate.”

Cotton said she appreciated Biden’s history lesson, but she said she heard a lot of wishing.

“Biden’s speech would have been better delivered on the Senate floor and delivered months ago,” said Barbara Arnwine, president of the Transformative Justice Coalition.

In addition to addressing the Democratic Caucus Thursday, Arnwine said Biden should also call and meet individually with senators and not just Manchin and Sinema.

“They’re not the only problems,’’ she said. “That’s not enough … There needs to be an aggressive push that’s worthy of this moment.”

Contributing: Deborah Berry, Courtney Subramanian

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Filibuster: Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin won’t back changes.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/president-biden-speak-democrats-voting-164404152.html

The post Senators Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin defend filibuster, likely crushing Biden’s hopes of passing voting rights bill first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.