Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, said Tuesday that Democrats refused to work with Republicans on renewing a ban on undetectable plastic firearms before the Senate went on a two-week Thanksgiving break.
“The Senate majority consciously and consistently rebuffed our efforts to continue the prohibition for five to 10 more years,” Mr. Grassley, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “Rather than working with us, they sought to move their inadequate bill just before the Senate adjourned, intending to make Republicans object.”
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Racing the Dec. 9 deadline, Senate Democrats tried to speed through a bill last week keeping the ban in place for one year, but a Republican objected, arguing the legislation had just been introduced hours before the chamber was scheduled to leave town. That objection halted the bill.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat and the bill’s sponsor, said he understood the objection, given the recent upheaval in the chamber, but said that “this is serious stuff.”
Mr. Schumer had co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, and others, to renew the act and extend a ban to plastic guns and homemade, 3-D printed, high-capacity plastic magazines. The original bill, unveiled earlier this year, would have reauthorized the act for 10 years.
But on Tuesday, Mr. Grassley said Democrats are now “knowingly mischaracterizing the debate.”
“When Congress returns, if the majority will work with us to pass the kind of extension that passed unanimously in the past, and stop looking to score phony political points, the law will be extended without delay,” Mr. Grassley said.
