Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he expects to hear from President Trump next week on new gun control legislation and pledged a vote on anything the White House supports.
“I said several weeks ago that if the President took a position on a bill so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, I’d be happy to put it on the floor,” McConnell told The Hugh Hewitt Show.
Recommended Stories
The Kentucky Republican said the Trump administration “is in the process of studying what they are prepared to support, if anything.”
[Also read: Marine veteran Democrat: McConnell has caused ‘so many deaths’ by stopping gun control]
Trump has signaled interest in expanded background checks and “red flag” proposals that would authorize law enforcement to seize firearms and ammunition from those deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Democrats are demanding the Senate take up a House-passed bill expanding background checks and banning firearm sales from unlicensed dealers.
Lawmakers are under pressure to address gun violence in the wake of a string of deadly mass shootings this summer.
The Senate may consider action on a less expansive background check measure sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, as well as a red flag measure sponsored by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“If the President is in favor of a number of things that he has discussed openly and publicly, and I know that if we pass it it’ll become law, I’ll put it on the floor,” McConnell said.
