Sen Jim Risch says on CNN that it's clear there are 60 votes 2 override filibuster of background ck bill - he still will support filibuster
— @emilyprollcall via TweetDeck
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Several Senate Republicans on Tuesday came out publicly against filibustering the first major gun control legislation since 1993 before it is even brought up for debate on the Senate floor, as advocates inched toward breaking a conservative blockade of the measure.
WaPo:
The Senate will hold the first key procedural vote on a bill to curb gun violence Thursday as more than a half-dozen Republicans announced that they will join with Democrats to stop any attempt to block popular legislation drafted in response to a deadly shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.
The vote would formally start the the most wide-ranging and ambitious battle over gun control in 20 years.
HuffPost:
Lara Bergthold, a principal at the public relations firm Griffin Schein, who represents the Newtown-based nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, confirmed to HuffPost that Newtown families met Tuesday with Grassley and Isakson, but declined further comment other than to say the group is "making strategic decisions about meetings." The Newtown group will be in Washington through Thursday's planned Senate votes on a variety of gun control proposals.
it's a fluid situation, but it certainly looks like descriptions of the death of gun legislation have been somewhat exaggerated. More politics and policy below the fold.
Reuters:
[Sandy Hook Promise executive director Tim] Makris said the Sandy Hook shooter brought 30-bullet magazines to the school and left smaller magazines at home.
"We know when the shooter stopped to reload, he made it possible for 11 children to escape," Makris said. "And we're left to wonder, if he had carried smaller magazines, and been forced to reload up to three times more ... would more children be alive?"
The group sought to present a human face to lawmakers.
Asked what the group could bring to the debate what other gun-control advocates could not, Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was killed in the shooting, told the conference call:
"Lots of people can discuss the issues from an intellectual perspective, but we bring a personal perspective."
WSJ:
Support Grows for Vote on Gun-Control Bill
Senate Democrats Appear to Have Numbers to Foil GOP Filibuster, but Few Obama Recommendations Expected to Survive
NY Times on new science education guidelines:
Worried that public schools are failing to prepare students for a complex and changing world, educators unveiled new guidelines Tuesday that call for sweeping changes in the way science is taught in the United States, emphasizing hands-on learning and critical scrutiny of scientific evidence.
Among many other changes, the guidelines call for introducing climate science into the curriculum starting in middle school, and teaching high school students in detail about the effects of human activity on climate.
Jonathan Bernstein:
I love a good, gossipy politics story, and so far the Mitch McConnell/Mother Jones story is certainly a fun one, with plenty of charges and countercharges and even an appearance by a real Hollywood celebrity.
But for those of you who would rather skip all of that and get to the point, it’s very simple: Mitch McConnell is a perpetually and currently unpopular Republican politician in a state which is increasingly tough for Democrats. His solution? Turn his reelection race, if at all possible, into a referendum on San Francisco liberals (such as San Francisco based Mother Jones), or at least Kentucky liberals, and not on himself.
