Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday he is encouraging a bipartisan group of negotiators to keep working on a compromise proposal to respond to recent mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas.
The Senate Democratic leader said last month he would give Senate Republicans only a short amount of time to agree to compromise legislation and warned if they do not strike a deal, he will force a vote on Democratic-crafted gun-control legislation.
On Tuesday, Schumer indicated he thinks the talks are making enough progress to give them more time.
“I’m encouraging my Democratic colleagues to keep talking, to see if Republicans will work with us to come up with something that will make a meaningful change in the lives of the American people and stop gun violence,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
“Making real progress is very important. Sen. [Chris] Murphy [D-Conn.] has asked for space to have the talks continue, and I have given him the space,” Schumer said. “I look forward to discussing the status of those talks with my colleagues today.”
Murphy, the lead Democratic negotiator on gun legislation, said he would answer colleagues’ questions about the talks at the weekly Senate Democratic luncheon Tuesday. However, he noted, “I don’t think I’ll be presenting anything [to the caucus.] We’re just not ready.”
Murphy met with the lead Republican negotiator, Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) for more than two hours in Sinema’s office Monday evening to discuss ideas to curb gun violence.
“We continue to make progress on narrowing and refining the scope of the package. I think we have work to do with our colleagues this week to make sure what we’re talking about...