Senator Dick Durbin (D. IL) really gives it to the NRA:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) heaped criticism on the National Rifle Association Sunday for its words over the weekend during annual meetings in Houston, Texas.
In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," the No. 2 Senate Democrat blasted the group's decision to applaud the fall of the bipartisan background checks bill brought to the Senate floor back in mid-April.
“The National Rifle Association can go to Texas and celebrate defeating that measure, but they certainly shouldn’t celebrate when they look at the carnage that takes place virtually every day in America because convicted felons have guns,” Durbin said.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre held a different view on Saturday, saying that the legislation sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) "got the defeat that it deserved."
"We will never surrender our guns, never," LaPierre told thousands. - Huffington Post, 5/6/13
The defeat of the Toomey-Manchin background checks bill was a major victory for the NRA but Durbin's not going to quit on getting gun control legislation passed in the Senate:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/...
The defeat was seen as a major victory among anti-gun control advocates and among those in the gun lobby, who argued that the measure would not have done much to help prevent mass shootings like those seen in Newtown, Connecticut, and Aurora, Colorado, last year.
Durbin, the Senate’s majority whip, said the legislation needs five more votes in order to pass but said it can be an uphill battle in the Senate.
"What we need to see is a change in political sentiment within the Senate. We need to pick up five more votes, and that's quite a task, I might add, as whip in the Senate, but we can do this. I hope the American people don't give up. I know the president hasn't given up," Durbin told CNN's chief political correspondent Candy Crowley. - CNN, 5/5/13
Glad to see Durbin continue to fight for gun control legislation. He's also fighting hard to make sure the core principals of the immigration reform bill remain intact:
http://www.upi.com/...
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said some adjustments to the bipartisan measure were inevitable but the "basic agreement" needed to remain intact.
"We have got to basically stick to the standard of what we've established, what we've agreed over the last three months," Durbin said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
The bill begins its perilous journey through Congress this week with a markup session by the Senate Judiciary Committee. CNN said the chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, I-Vt., plans to seek an amendment that would enable homosexuals to sponsor a foreign-born partners' applications for citizenship. Durbin, a co-sponsor of the amendment, said it was necessary even though it would likely raise the hackles of congressional conservatives and endanger the entire bill. - UPI, 5/6/13