Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a letter released by colleagues on Thursday that forcing the Republican Party’s hand on gun violence legislation will be a top Democratic priority this fall.
“President [Donald] Trump and Senate Republicans have failed to act on the issue of gun violence, bowing repeatedly to the NRA and the hard right by choosing inaction or half-measures over real, meaningful legislation,” Schumer wrote in the letter, which was disclosed by Politico.
"Comprehensive, evidence-based solutions, like updating our laws to require background checks for all gun sales, must be a part of any congressional action to curb gun violence," he said.
Schumer wrote that Democrats will keep pressuring Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring to a floor vote legislation passed by the House that would require universal background checks.
No Senate Republicans, so far, support the bill, introduced in January by two California Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Mike Thompson.
Schumer’s letter follows mass shootings in August in Texas and Ohio that killed at least 31 people and a gun assault in Odessa, Texas, over the weekend in which seven people died.
McConnell said this week that he would only bring gun legislation to the floor that is supported by President Trump. The president once called for “meaningful background checks” after the El Paso and Dayton attacks, but now focuses on mental health-related measures.
In the letter, Schumer said the Democratic agenda this fall would include using the Congressional Review Act to try to rescind the Trump administration’s guidance that eased requirements for state waivers for Obamacare and passing a legislation that would restate U.S. support for Hong Kong amid massive anti-government protests.
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