Independent voices from the TWT Communities
A senior Senate Democrat has joined the GOP chorus that for days has blasted the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative groups, with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus saying Monday he plans to investigate the beleaguered agency over the matter.
While President Obama keeps pounding away to get votes to pass gun restrictions in the Senate, pro-Second Amendment supporters are pushing the upper chamber in the opposite direction. Sen. Tom Coburn introduced two amendments to strengthen the rights of gun owners and keep the federal government in check.
MSNBC hosts Alex Wagner and Chris Matthews decided to get a few digs in at Sen. Ted Cruz this afternoon before moving on to Obama's press conference, criticizing the Republican's recent comments about his fellow congressmen acting like "squishes."
Sen. Pat Toomey, one of the main architects of the failed Senate legislation to expand gun background checks, blamed misinformation for helping sink the bill.
Gun owners who cheered when the Senate failed to pass numerous anti-gun bills last week should temper their enthusiasm. The liberal wing of the Democratic party, led by President Obama and funded by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, has already started to use the votes to oust pro-Second Amendment senators in 2014.
As the Senate opens debate on legislation to expand background checks of gun purchases, President Obama said Tuesday he thinks public sentiment will compel lawmakers to approve the measure.
The background checks “compromise” in the Senate will not reduce crime or prevent mass shootings, but merely appeases President Obama while abridging Second Amendment rights. In advance of the expected Wednesday afternoon vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been scrambling to find 60 votes for expanding background checks beyond federally-licensed dealers.
The sellout by "conservative" Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, Pennsylvania Republican, on gun control opens up a valid question ("Sens. Joe Manchin, Pat Toomey roll out background-check compromise on guns," Web, Wednesday). If we can make arbitrary calls about who can own a gun for home defense, we should also use the same yardstick to determine who can own or have access to the average 4,000-pound American vehicle.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, kicked off Monday's session by saying the victims of December's Connecticut shooting rampage deserve a vote on gun legislation and warning of "unreasonable extremists" who may try to derail or delay the process.
With a deal on gun background checks finally done, Sens. Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin have another difficult task ahead: selling the American people and their colleagues in Congress on the specifics.
Sen. Mark Kirk says the real driving force behind the gun deal that was hatched by bipartisan work was booze and boat retreats.
The Senate on Thursday was scheduled to key test vote on whether to move forward with debate on wide-ranging gun control legislation that would set the stage for a bruising, potentially weeks-long floor battle four months after Connecticut's school shooting rampage.
With a Senate gun-control showdown looming, Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey have reached a deal on background checks for firearm purchases, NBC News reported Wednesday morning.
As he heads to Connecticut on Monday, it's up to President Obama to revive the "sense of urgency" for stronger gun measures, a top Democratic senator said Monday.
Beginning a week of high pressure on gun control, the White House on Monday accused some Republican senators of cowardice for planning to filibuster gun legislation without allowing the full Senate to vote on President Obama's initiatives.
Sen. Joe Manchin, also a Democrat, said he "will do everything I can at the federal level to make sure [Mr. Tomblin] has all the flexibility he needs to make this program work in a fiscally responsible way for the benefit of the West Virginians it is intended to help."
W.Va. Gov. Tomblin opts to expand Medicaid under 'Obamacare' →
"It's always hard to make a sale when you're in that environment," he said.
