WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of senators worked for a week to come up with an extremely modest gun reform bill, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) told them Thursday that the best he could do for them was hold a vote to table the measure.
Authored by Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R), the bill was intended to block gun purchases for anyone on the country's no-fly list or the list of individuals who require special scrutiny to board a plane. It would have covered just 2,700 Americans and legal residents, and was seen as a compromise on a measure that would have used the much-larger terrorism watch list to block gun purchases that failed on Monday.
When opponents of a bill vote to table it, they effectively kill it. A simple majority is all that is required to win such a motion. Collins emerged from McConnell's office on Thursday and told reporters about the majority leader's plan.
A spokesman for McConnell described the "possible" vote as a way to test whether or not there is any support for it in the Senate. If there is, then additional votes may be held -- if McConnell agrees to schedule them.
Democrats were quick to hammer McConnell.
"In a move so cynical it could come only from Sen. McConnell, the 'vote' McConnell promised Collins could end up being held under a procedure that guarantees that Collins’ compromise will not advance, regardless of the outcome of the vote," said Kristen Orthman, a spokeswoman for Senate Minority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
"This is the procedural equivalent of 'heads, Collins supporters lose; tails, Collins opponents win,'" Orthman said.
The Collins compromise is the last gun measure currently under serious discussion in the Senate, after Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) launched a 15-hour filibuster that led to votes on background checks and the broader watch list bill on Monday. Neither reached the 60-vote threshold required to proceed.
Mitch McConnell Moves To Kill Or Stall Last Standing Gun Bill
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