Senate leaders are giving a bipartisan group of lawmakers more time to finish a compromise bill on guns and school safety, even as hopes fade for a quick deal.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said he was unsure if a breakthrough was possible, but was giving Democratic negotiators a space to try.
“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,” said Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat. “Making real progress is very important.”
Republicans are similarly taking a wait-and-see approach. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has given his top lieutenant, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, latitude to negotiate a compromise.
At the same time another of Mr. McConnell’s lieutenants, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, was scoping out the larger Republican conference to see whether there were enough votes for a deal.
“There’s a desire to find a place where you can find 60 members willing to do something,” Mr. Blunt said. “But I think that something is the hard part.”
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Assuming Democratic unanimity, which might not be a given if the final proposal does too little from their point of view, any bill would need the support of at least 10 Republican senators to pass the upper chamber.
The Democratic-led House already has passed a gun-control bill, but it has no chance in the Senate and the party’s leaders knew that when they passed it.
The holding action comes as the lawmakers, led by Mr. Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, continue to negotiate. Most of the progress to date has been around finding agreement on what will be excluded from a deal, rather than what will be included.
Democrats, for instance, have abandoned hopes of including a ban on military-style assault weapons within the package. Republicans, meanwhile, have conceded that the background check process for gun purchases needs to be enhanced.
“We continue to make progress on narrowing and refining the scope of the package,” Mr. Murphy said. I think we have work to do with our colleagues this week to make sure what we’re talking about can get 60 votes.”
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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