And when they come back into session, they’ll probably conveniently let it die with some bland boilerplate statements.<\/p>\n
Senate leaves town without a deal on gun legislation<\/a><\/p>\n Senators have wrapped up their work and left Washington, D.C., without reaching a deal on gun violence legislation, disappointing Democrats who had hoped to issue a joint statement with Republicans on a framework.<\/p>\n Democrats say they are \u201cvery close\u201d to an agreement with Sen.\u00a0John Cornyn\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(Texas), the lead Republican negotiator, but Democratic and Republican staff still need to hammer out differences over language, according to Senate negotiators.<\/p>\n Senate sources say that Sen.\u00a0Chris Murphy\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(Conn.), the lead Democratic negotiator, was \u201citching\u201d to put out a joint statement with Cornyn before lawmakers left town but that Cornyn declined to sign on to any public statement until there\u2019s an agreement on the language of the core proposals.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not an agreement until we agree on everything,\u201d Cornyn told reporters Thursday afternoon. \u201cWe\u2019ve narrowed the issues considerably.\u201d<\/p>\n Cornyn said the group had hoped to release a joint statement by week\u2019s end but isn\u2019t there yet.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were hopeful there might be something we could do today, but we have this remaining issue we need to resolve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sources familiar with the negotiations said Cornyn, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, doesn\u2019t want to sign off on any framework until the language of the core provisions are finalized.<\/p>\n \u201cHow outrageous is that?\u201d Cornyn quipped about his insistence on knowing the details of the agreement before endorsing a framework for the legislation.<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader\u00a0Charles Schumer\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(D-N.Y.) said he wanted a deal by the end of this week and has come under pressure from progressives to force a Senate vote on gun control legislation if Republicans don\u2019t agree to a compromise bill soon.<\/p>\n Schumer received a briefing from Murphy on Thursday afternoon, telling reporters afterward that the bipartisan group is making good progress and that he hopes to get something from the group soon.<\/p>\n The four core negotiators \u2014 Cornyn, Murphy, Sen.\u00a0Thom Tillis\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(R-N.C.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) \u2014 are scheduled to hold a virtual meeting to continue the talks Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n They are looking for a deal that can bring along 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster in the 50-50 Senate. Every Democrat is expected to vote for the legislation.<\/p>\n The Republicans in the negotiating group also include Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.).<\/p>\n If those four plus Cornyn and Tillis agree to vote \u201cyes,\u201d Democrats would still need to round up four more Republicans to overcome the 60-vote threshold for ending a filibuster.<\/p>\n Senior Democrats briefed on the negotiations say the two sides are \u201cvery close\u201d to a deal and expect to see an agreement by sometime next week.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we are very close,\u201d said Senate Majority Whip\u00a0Dick Durbin\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(D-Ill.). \u201cWe have good vibrations. I think Schumer did the right thing by focusing on a date to complete the negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n Schumer said soon after a gunman killed 21 people in Uvalde, Texas, that he would give Republicans only a short amount of time to work out compromise legislation before he would begin to force them on gun control proposals.<\/p>\n