Fourteen Republicans vote with majority for first major gun reform legislation in nearly 30 years
The US House on Friday passed a bipartisan bill to strengthen federal gun regulations, bringing an end to decades of congressional inaction and sending the historic legislation to Joe Biden’s desk.
Passage of the bill came a day after the supreme court overturned a New York law regulating handgun ownership, a significant blow for proponents of gun reform.
Continue reading...Bill’s passing hailed as ‘long overdue step’ while package falls far short of more robust restrictions Democrats sought
The US Senate has easily approved a bipartisan gun violence bill that seemed unthinkable just a month ago, clearing the way for final congressional approval of what will be lawmakers’ most far-reaching response in decades to mass shootings.
After years of GOP procedural delays that derailed Democratic efforts to curb firearms, Democrats and some Republicans decided that congressional inaction was untenable after last month’s rampages in New York and Texas. It took weeks of closed-door talks but a group of senators from both parties emerged on Thursday with a compromise embodying incremental but impactful movement to curb bloodshed that has come to regularly shock – yet no longer surprise – the nation.
Continue reading...Committee ends fifth hearing, with next sessions expected in July
Gun rights have been in the news for weeks following two shocking mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York — a fact that has not escaped the supreme court.
In his concurrence with the majority opinion, conservative justice Samuel Alito connects the latter shooting with the concealed weapons regulation that the court struck down. “Will a person bent on carrying out a mass shooting be stopped if he knows that it is illegal to carry a handgun outside the home? And how does the dissent account for the fact that one of the mass shootings near the top of its list took place in Buffalo? The New York law at issue in this case obviously did not stop that perpetrator,” wrote Alito, who was also the author of the draft opinion overturning abortion rights that leaked in May.
Continue reading...John Cornyn of Texas, lead negotiator on modest bipartisan reform proposal in Senate, was booed and heckled at party convention
In the aftermath of the Uvalde mass school shooting, the Texas senator John Cornyn is facing backlash from his own Republican party for being a lead negotiator on the bipartisan gun reform bill, the most significant legislation on gun control in America in decades.
At the state’s annual Republican convention recently held in Houston, Cornyn was booed and heckled – a visible sign he is losing support from those within his own party. He dismissed the taunting crowd as a “mob”.
Continue reading...The breakthrough in a 29-year stale mate on gun reform comes after two devastating mass shootings in Texas and New York
US senators have announced an agreement on a bipartisan gun violence bill, marking a small but notable breakthrough on gun control in the wake of recent mass shootings.
Nine days after Senate bargainers agreed to a framework proposal – and 29 years after Congress last enacted major firearms curbs – senators Chris Murphy, a Democrat and John Cornyn, a Republican, told reporters on Tuesday that a final accord on the proposal’s details had been reached.
Continue reading...President Joe Biden has cheered the Food and Drug Administration’s decision today to authorize Covid-19 vaccines for children younger than five years old, the last group of Americans that didn’t have access to the jabs.
“Today is a day of huge relief for parents and families across America. Following a rigorous scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first COVID-19 vaccines for kids under the age of five. As early as next week, pending recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), parents will finally be able to get their youngest kids the protection of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
Continue reading...A special election in south Texas last night ended with bad news for Democrats when the district chose a Republican to represent it in the House of Representatives for the first time. But as Victoria Bekiempis reports, the victor Mayra Flores will face a stiffer challenge in November, when she must stand for her seat once more.
A south Texas congressional district will be represented by a Republican for the first time following a special election Tuesday. The election of Mayra Flores, who bested her Democrat competitor in a 51%-43% vote, comes as Republicans continue to make inroads among Latino voters in south Texas.
Continue reading...It looks like William Barr, Trump’s final attorney general during the time of the 2020 election, will be playing a major role in the today’s hearing.
The committee last Thursday aired video in which he said he thought Trump’s claims of election fraud were “bullshit,” and committee members say he will reappear today to elaborate on his views.
Continue reading...The March for Our Lives rallies come after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York
Rallies for gun reform were held in Washington, New York, other US cities and around the world on Saturday, seeking to increase pressure on Congress to act following a spate of mass shootings.
In Washington, the son of an 86-year-old victim in the Buffalo supermarket shooting said: “Enough is enough. We will not go quietly into the night.”
Continue reading...Relatives of victims urge action while group of over 220 CEOS send joint letter pushing Senate to address gun violence
Pressure is mounting on the US Senate to act on gun safety in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalo massacres, as Republican intransigence continues to stand in the way of all but modest reforms.
On Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a package of gun safety measures designed to staunch the disaster of mass shootings. The extent of Republican resistance was underlined by the fact that only five out of 208 House Republicans voted for the legislation.
Continue reading...Miah Cerrillo recounts at gun violence hearing how she watched as her teacher and friends were shot and acted quickly to save herself
An 11-year-old survivor of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas testified before the House oversight committee on Wednesday, as lawmakers continued to try to reach a compromise on gun control legislation after a series of devastating mass shootings.
The House hearing came two weeks after an 18-year-old opened fire at Robb elementary school, killing 19 children and two teachers, and three weeks after 10 people were killed at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Continue reading...Actor speaks at White House in effort to sway legislators skeptical of gun control legislation
The Senate judiciary committee hearing comes one day the House oversight committee will hold its own hearing on addressing gun violence in the US.
Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grade student at Robb Elementary school who survived the shooting by smearing blood on herself, will testify at the House hearing. Felix and Kimberly Rubio, who lost their daughter Lexi in the Uvalde shooting, will also testify, as will Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire was shot in Buffalo and thankfully survived.
Continue reading...The Wall Street Journal has published a deep dive into the relationship between Chris Murphy and John Cornyn, the two senators tasked with finding a compromise on gun control in Congress, which focuses on their experiences with mass shootings in their states.
The experience of Murphy, a Democrat, stems from the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting which, like last month’s massacre in Uvalde, Texas, left dead scores of children in class. Republican Cornyn’s experience came in 2017 during a shooting at a Sutherland Springs, Texas church that killed 26 people, and again with the killings in Uvalde.
“Both of us have gone through things and seen things that are pretty, pretty horrific,” said Mr. Murphy in an interview, pointing to the shootings in their states. “I don’t think there’s any way that that doesn’t propel you in some way, shape or form to go out, do something, to make sure that all of this stops.”
The two men, coming from parties with sharply different positions on the gun debate, are working to overcome decades of distrust and inaction on guns in a deeply polarized Congress, aiming to pull together an agreement as soon as this week. Many Democrats, worn down after repeated failures to advance new laws, have said they are willing to settle for even a small bipartisan deal. Some Republicans also are open to talks, emphasizing school security and mental illness but wary of any steps that could be cast as hurting gun rights.
Continue reading...Republican Dan Bishop challenged David Cicilline’s argument that Democrats’ gun-control bill is fully compliant with the constitution, instead insisting that the proposals would infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
“And let me be clear, you are not going to bully your way into stripping Americans of fundamental rights,” Bishop said.
Continue reading...Poll finds 77% of Americans ‘pessimistic’ about cost of goods and services in coming months
• US would defend Taiwan if attacked by China, says Joe Biden
• Capitol attack panel to hold six public hearings
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The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to stage six public hearings in June on how Donald Trump and some allies broke the law as they sought to overturn the 2020 election results, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
The hearings are set to be a pivotal political moment for the country as the panel aims to publicly outline the potentially unlawful schemes that tried to keep the former president in office despite his defeat at the hands of Joe Biden.
Continue reading...Wic voucher requirements are being waived to allow holders to purchase any brand of infant formula as it becomes available
The Senate approved a bill Thursday aimed at easing the baby formula shortage for families participating in a government assistance program that accounts for about half of all formula purchased in the US.
The House passed the bill the day before, so it now goes to Joe Biden to be signed into law.
Continue reading...Joe Biden will welcome the prime minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, and the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö to Washington tomorrow.
It will be a very visual symbol of US support for those two European, Russia-adjacent nations joining the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato).
Continue reading...A preliminary vote on military, humanitarian and economic aid to Kyiv is expected today, setting up a final vote on Wednesday
• Scrutiny of Republicans who embrace ‘great replacement theory’ after Buffalo massacre
A group of voters who challenged extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s eligibility to run for re-election have filed an appeal of the Georgia secretary of state’s decision that she can appear on the ballot.
The five voters from Greene’s district alleged that the rightwing Republican played a significant role in the 6 January Capitol attack, which they said put her in violation of a 14th amendment clause concerning insurrection and ineligibility for office.
Continue reading...Senators meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy who praises US bipartisan support for his country
The US Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has joined the growing list of US politicians making visits to Kyiv, it emerged on Saturday
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed McConnell’s visit as a powerful signal of bipartisan support for Ukraine.
Continue reading...Democratic and Republican Senate leaders both supported package but Paul objected to scale of spending
The top Democrat and Republican in the US Senate joined forces in a rare moment of unity on Thursday in an attempt to pass $40bn in aid for Ukraine, only to be stymied by a single Republican lawmaker: the Kentucky libertarian Rand Paul.
Faced with the prospect of an extended delay for the package that passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, sought to move forward on the aid package only to be blocked by Paul, a fiscal hawk who objects to the amount of spending proposed.
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