The Hill reports, Senate Republicans block domestic terrorism bill:
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill to create domestic terrorism offices within federal law enforcement agencies in response to a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., that left 10 people dead.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) framed the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act as an opportunity to vote on Republican and Democratic amendments to curb gun violence, but his plea for GOP support to begin the debate fell flat with Republican colleagues.
“The bill is so important because the mass shooting in Buffalo was an act of domestic terrorism. We need to call it what it is, domestic terrorism. It was terrorism that fed off the poison of conspiracy theories like white replacement theory,” Schumer said on the floor before the vote.
The vote broke down along party lines, 47-47, with not a single Republican voting for the measure.
The six senators not voting: Blackburn (R-TN), Cramer (R-ND), Cruz (R-TX), Merkley (D-OR), Murkowski (R-AK), Van Hollen (D-MD). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted nay in order to return to the bill at a later time.
The legislation would have created an interagency task force within the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to analyze and combat white supremacist infiltration in the military and federal law enforcement agencies.
Republican senators argued that new federal laws and offices are not needed to monitor and prosecute domestic terrorism because politically motivated violence is already covered by existing laws. [False!]
They also voiced concerns that the bill could open the door to improper surveillance of political groups and create a double standard for extreme groups on the right and left of the political spectrum.
The failed Senate vote comes roughly one week after the House passed the legislation largely along partisan lines, 222 to 203. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) was the only Republican to vote for it.
The latest 10 D’s of opposition tactics (deflect, delay, deny, discount, deceive, divide, dulcify, discredit, destroy and deal) by Republicans:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called the legislation an “insult” to police officers and military servicemembers.
“It would be the Democrat plan to name our police as white supremacists and neo-Nazis. I met policemen throughout Kentucky and I’ve not met one policeman motivated or consumed with any kind of racial rage,” he said.
Note: At least 19 current or former police officers were charged in the January 6 insurrection, sometimes with assaulting Capitol police officers. ‘Elephant in the room’: Police grapple with charges against officers in Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
“What an insult it is to put a bill before the House and say our Marines are consumed with white supremacy and neo-Nazism,” he added.
Note: Over 80 of those charged in the January 6 investigation have ties to the military: “at least 81 current or former service members face charges and are accused of participating in the mob” on Jnaury 6, 2021.
Just to clarify, Rand Paul is talking about these “J6” MAGA/QAonon seditious insurrectionists who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. And yes, they are white Christian Nationalists. Christian nationalism drove Jan. 6: Now it’s embraced the Big Lie, and wants to conquer America.
And this from Fox News, Texas school shooting: Domestic terrorism bill stalls in Senate after tragedies in Buffalo, Uvalde:
Many GOP senators said they disagreed with Democrats’ definition of a terrorist or extremist, and worried about broad powers it might give the federal government.
“I think it’s like a disinformation board on steroids,” [insurrectionist cheerleader] Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said of the bill. “This is like the patriot act for American citizens.”
But the vote gained increased salience after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas earlier this week.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised to open the bill up for gun-related amendments in the wake of that tragedy. That essentially turned the Thursday procedural vote into a referendum on two issues: gun control after the Texas shooting and white supremacy after the Buffalo shooting at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood.
“The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act… is a necessary and timely step to honor the memories of the dead in Buffalo and to make sure mass shootings motivated by race don’t happen again,” Schumer said Wednesday.
“All we’re asking is a vote ‘yes’ on the motion to proceed,” Schumer added, at which point the Senate “could consider amendments related to guns.”
But not even 19 dead innocent children in Texas was enough to move the cold hearts of Republicans to even begin debate about what gun safety regulations they might be willing to consider. No deal.
Are you paying attention Sen. Kytsten Sinema, with your ignorant blather about “bipartisan discussions” blah-blah-blah. You can stick your Senate filibuster where the sun don’t shine.
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Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman write, “Don’t get snowed by Mitch McConnell’s ‘openness’ to acting on guns”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/26/mcconnell-snowed-acting-on-guns/
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is letting it be known that he’s supposedly open to some kind of serious bipartisan deal on gun control.
If you believe that, we have a new line of Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks that we’d like you to invest in, which you’ll surely want to do with the business smarts you acquire from the course you complete at Trump University.
Seriously? How many times do we need to see how McConnell operates before we learn something about his M.O.?
With McConnell, you have to ask: What’s in his political interest from the most nakedly cynical and instrumental perspective you can dream up? Answer that and you’ll have a decent read on what he’s likely to do.
In this case, what might be in his interest is to make a show of reaching out, then ultimately to ensure that 10 Republican senators fail to materialize to support a deal. He can then blame Democratic intransigence for that failure, and he will have gotten headlines in the interim making Republicans appear open to a deal, at exactly the moment when public angst over the shooting is at its peak.
We’ve seen this before.
Any basic reading of McConnell’s incentives implies that this is likely to happen again. Killing a deal on gun control avoids the risk of a backlash from the Republican base, which might recoil at any deal as an unconscionable betrayal.
McConnell also knows that the Democratic base is frustrated with their leaders, in general and on this issue in particular. Congressional failure on guns could demobilize that base, making them more likely to stay home in November in disgust, boosting GOP chances.
The Hill reports, “Schumer vows to force vote on gun control legislation after Memorial Day recess”, https://thehill.com/news/senate/3502557-schumer-vows-to-force-vote-on-gun-control-legislation-after-memorial-day-recess/
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told colleagues Thursday morning that they should be prepared to vote on gun control legislation when they return to Washington next month after the Memorial Day recess, promising a showdown with Republicans after mass shootings in New York and Texas this month left 31 people dead.
Schumer said he’s not scheduling a vote this week on two House-passed bills to expand background checks because he wants to give Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and other colleagues more time to negotiate a deal with Republicans on background check or red flag legislation.
“If these negotiations do not bear any fruit, the Senate will vote on gun safety legislation when we return. But our hope, even amidst our deep skepticism, is that during this week Democrats and Republicans at long last will come to agree on something meaningful that will reduce gun violence in a real way in America,” Schumer said on the floor.
But the Democratic leader is giving the talks little chance of succeeding.
And here’s why, “McConnell says he has directed Cornyn to engage with Democrats on a ‘bipartisan solution’ on gun violence”, https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/politics/mcconnell-cornyn-democrats-bipartisan-effort-gun-violence/index.html
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN on Thursday he met earlier in the day with Texas Sen. John Cornyn and encouraged the senior Republican senator to begin discussions with Democrats, including Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, to see if they can find a middle ground on legislation to respond to the tragic Texas elementary school shooting.
McConnell would not say specifically what the contours of that legislation should be, instead signaling he wants Cornyn to be the one to negotiate.
Cornyn said earlier on Thursday that he is going to meet today with Murphy, one of the most prominent Democrats on the issue of gun policy, to see what can be worked on. He and Murphy have actually met on and off for the last year on this issue and are going to try and resume some of their talks.
He said he doesn’t know if they can get there on background checks or other bills, but he did say “this hopefully will provide a new, greater sense of urgency.”
Cornyn has also said that he does not want to see the shooting used as a way to infringe on gun rights. [and there it ends.]
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who has been engaged in gun reform talks with colleagues on both sides of the aisle for years, said Thursday when asked about red flag laws and other gun-related measures that “for the first time,” he and Cornyn and other Republican colleagues are “talking seriously,” after the shooting in Texas.
“That’s a major cause of encouragement to me,” he said. “I’m hoping now we can reach that critical mass that will get us to 60 votes. I’m hopeful for the first time in a long time.”
-He has repeatedly been disappointed before. Don’t hold your breath.