Rep. Katie Hill on Monday criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s calls for gun reform despite so far having ignored several bipartisan House-passed bills for months that would provide background checks and research.
“The pressure has to be on the Senate and on Mitch McConnell, in particular, to take up the four different measures that we have already sent him that are sitting on his desk that can be voted on right away,” the California Democrat said.
“We’re hearing he says, ’We need to be writing these different measures, or we need to come back and reconvene and talk about what we’re doing.’ No no no no no, it already exists. We have four different bills,” she said.
Following the outcry after two mass shootings, Mr. McConnell said gun reform will be “front and center” in September when lawmakers come back from congressional recess, adding that background checks and red flag laws will probably be in the discussion.
The House has passed four resolutions attempting to tackle gun violence, including two background check bills, the Violence Against Women Act and federal funding bills that would provide $50 million for gun violence research.
“Those need to be voted on right away, and I think we need to go several steps further,” Ms. Hill said.
“On the Senate side, they need to take those votes, and the American people are overwhelmingly supportive of all four of those pieces of legislation, and I hope the Senate realizes that pressure exists, and if not, they will be held accountable at the polls,” she added.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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