The White House on Tuesday defended Senate Democrats for voting against two Republican gun control amendments, and rejected the idea that Democrats should have seen the GOP language as a middle ground that makes some progress on guns.
Democrats on Monday voted down proposals from Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and stopped them from advancing in Senate. In doing so, Democrats took the position that only their more aggressive gun control measures should pass, and that anything along the lines of a compromise with Senate Republicans shouldn’t move.
When asked Tuesday if Democrats should have instead accepted the GOP proposals as a smaller step in the right direction, spokesman Josh Earnest said that plan would have locked in the GOP answer and made it harder to find a compromise, which senators continue to work on.
“Part of their thinking, I’m sure, is: The fact that all of these proposals went down provided an incentive for somebody like Sen. [Susan] Collins to try to step up and find common ground with Democrats, at least on something,” Earnest said.
“It’s unlikely that would have happened if Democrats had gone along with a do-nothing Republican attempt, like the Grassley and Cornyn amendments,” he added.
It’s not yet clear whether an effort from Collins, R-Maine, will end up finding enough support from both parties.
Cornyn’s amendment would have created a 72-hour waiting period for people on a federal watchlist before they can buy a gun, which would have given the government time to make its case for blocking the sale. Democrats opposed it by saying it would still make it too easy for terrorist suspects to buy a gun.
Grassley’s amendment would have boosted the federal background check system, but Democrats also said that didn’t go far enough.
