Yesterday every single gun control amendment failed in the Senate, which prompted a Presidential hissy fit. Today, the Senate is slated to continue debating the remaining amendments and the actual gun control bill itself. Right now, Harry Reid is doing his level best to guilt trip the Senate into enacting useless and painful new laws, using that same 90% statistic that people keep throwing around and saying that the fight isn’t over. We’ll keep you in the loop via this post as to what’s going on in the Senate [watch live here], so keep refreshing the page for the latest news.
[12:44] Senate in recess for lunch until 2:00 PM, at which time they will discuss judicial nominees. Sounds like gun control debate is done for the day.
[12:44] Harkin amendment PASSES – 95/2
[12:43] Senators Lee and Paul voted against this amendment, probably because it spends more money.
[12:34] When there’s no opposition speaker for a proposal, the conclusion is pretty clear.
[12:26] Harkin amendment up for two minutes of debate on either side. Would improve mental health in schools and universities, supported by Dems and Republicans alike.
[12:26] Barrasso Amendment PASSES – 67/30
[12:03] Voting has begun, and the clerk calling the roll seems to have left her cell phone on since I can hear it vibrating through the podium . . .
[12:02] Leahy (D-VT) can’t string two coherent sentences together to describe why he’s against protecting people’s privacy, but he sure looks peeved.
[12:00] Barrasso’s amendment is now up for 2 minutes of debate from each side. The amendment would protect gun owner information and stop New York style outing of gun owners.
[11:57] Nothing says C-SPAN like some classical music while the watching the Senate sit around doing nothing.
[11:47] Blumenthal (D-CT): “We must act before the next election.” Sounds like he may have recognized how screwed they are once the people get to vote them out.
[11:44] Senator Blumenthal (D-CT): “Yesterday was demoralizing and discouraging. […] The only way to keep a bicycle moving is to move forward.” So if we stop them form passing any legislation, will they fall over and stop?
[11:39] Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) has now brought a picture of one of the Newtown victims and is attempting to guilt trip the Senate into passing gun control. Says Senate “turned its back” on the families of Newtown and other shootings. Literally using the victims of Newtown as a prop.
[10:57] And now we’re talking about national diaphragmatic hernia month, I guess…
[10:53] I love my senator. John Cornyn (R-TX) is systematically tearing apart the gun control advocate’s position and showing how reasonable the Republican-backed proposal the Democrats voted down yesterday was.
[10:40] John Cornyn: “I watched the president say it was a shameful day on television, and I agree for different reasons. When reasonable people have a reasonable discussion, the president should not accuse them of having no coherent argument and caving to the gun lobby […] I am accountable to them [Texans] and no one else. […] Its false to say it came down as politics, as he said.”
[9:50] Apparently the vote is scheduled for noon today, when they will be voting on two amendments. I’m not sure if the bill itself will be brought up today or if Reid will back off and try to get more support through back room deals. But if these amendments fail as well, there would appear to be no hope for the bill proper.