Republicans have come up with another reason to delay the not-about-guns anymore gun safety legislation they agreed to in principle over a week ago—abortion. Specifically, the Hyde Amendment which prohibits federal funds from paying for abortions. The bill includes funding for mental health services, and Republicans have insisted that the Hyde Amendment be included because that’s what they do.
Democrats have reportedly acquiesced according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) who has taken the lead on the bill despite being from the minority party. Asked about whether the abortion issue had been resolved, Cornyn told reporters that “Yes. I believe so. Hyde applies.” That was after Cornyn walked out of the talks last Thursday, after demanding that the grants that they were creating to encourage states to implement red flag laws which allow courts to remove guns from dangerous people could be used for other purposes. So red states could get free money intended to increase gun safety and use it for other supposed intervention methods. Like maybe a stern talking-to to the potentially dangerous person.
Remember how Republicans like Mitch McConnell said that emergency COVID-19 funding to states was a “blue state bailout”? Yeah, that.
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Cornyn, along with Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy (CT) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) as well as Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (NC) worked over the weekend and reportedly reached agreement on the other issue that was holding them up last week, closing the “boyfriend loophole.” Current law prohibits people convicted of domestic violence just against their married partner or someone with whom they have a child from purchasing a gun. Democrats want to include all intimate partners in that prohibition. Last week Republicans were threatening to drop it entirely, but it appears to have survived in some form.
The legislation apparently will include expanded background checks for people aged 18-21 purchasing assault-style weapons, funding for school safety, telehealth and expanded mental health funding, and criminal penalties for straw purchases—third parties buying guns for people otherwise prohibited from owning them. Any or all of these things could cause rebellion among the other 8 Republicans who supposedly agreed to the framework released at the beginning of last week, which included all of these things.
The stated goal of the group is having legislative text Tuesday and a vote before the Senate leaves for a two-week Fourth of July recess either Thursday or Friday. It’s theoretically possible for the bill to be on the floor before the end of the week if it is introduced Tuesday, but the timing is very tight. If it doesn’t drop Tuesday, it will take all 100 senators agreeing to expedite it on the floor for it to happen. All 50 Republicans cooperating to get it done seems unlikely (looking at Kentucky’s Rand Paul).
After Cornyn’s angry reception at last week’s Republican Party of Texas convention in Houston, his commitment to actually seeing anything of substance included in the bill—or allowing that bill to reach the floor and pass, is really in question. He told the crowd there “I will not, under any circumstance, support new restrictions for law-abiding gun owners.”
“That will always be my red line. And despite what some of you may have heard, the framework that we are working on is consistent with that red line.” It’s all going to depend on how they decide to define law-abiding. Cornyn is always going to leave himself an escape hatch, and blame Democrats when he decides to use it.
If the bill drops Tuesday, it’s likely to consume most of this week in the Senate, with some executive branch nominations thrown in to fill up the in-between time. The spotlight for the House will be the public Jan. 6 committee hearings, while on the floor, they’ll spend the week on a variety of health care provisions.
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