Next week: Congress returns under pressure to act on guns

Senate Republican leaders will face intense pressure next week to call up legislation that would improve the nation’s gun background check system, but had no firm plans to do so, and instead was set to vote on judicial nominees and Trump’s pick to serve as the deputy budget director.

Much of the action on gun control legislation next week is likely to happen behind the scenes, where Republicans and Democrats are working on modifications to a bill that would provide incentives and punishments aimed at ensuring adequate reporting to the background check database used by gun shop owners to determine whether a person can purchase a firearm.

The legislation, sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., would help ensure federal and state authorities “comply with existing law and accurately report relevant criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System,” or NICS.

The bill would penalize federal agencies that fail to report people who deserve to be flagged in the NICS system, and it provides extra funding for states to improve reporting. The bill is in response to last year’s failure of the Air Force to report a troubled person to the system, but is also related to this month’s shooting at a Florida high school, after which the FBI admitted it didn’t follow protocol when people were warning the shooter was a potential danger.

The bill has been sitting in the Judiciary Committee for months, alongside a House-passed bill that is similar to the Cornyn-Murphy measure, but adds a provision expanding reciprocity for gun owners who travel through different states.

Senate conservatives are seeking changes to the Cornyn-Murphy bill to improve language that would give people due process if they want to argue they are mistakenly being banned from buying a gun. Gun-rights advocates say that language is lacking, and would wrongfully ban people.

But in the meantime, the Senate convenes Monday at 5:30 and will vote on the nomination of Elizabeth Branch to serve as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit. The Senate’s schedule for the remainder of the week will be consumed by votes on four District Court judges and a vote on Russell Vought to serve as Trump’s Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The House isn’t expected to take up any legislation related to gun control anytime soon, and next week, House lawmakers will vote on two regulatory measures as well as an anti-sex trafficking bill.

Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said this month that the House has already passed a bill expanding background checks and sent it to the Senate.

The House bill, passed in December, allows people who have obtained a state-issued, concealed carry license or permit to carry a concealed handgun in any other state that allows concealed carry, as long as the rules of those states are followed.

Ryan has given no indication he is willing to take up the Cornyn-Murphy bill if it lacks the reciprocity provision, and House conservatives are warning him not to bring the stripped down measure to the House floor.

House Republicans have also scheduled a vote next week on legislation that would create a new law with increased penalties for promoting sex trafficking online. It amends the Communications Decency Act, which has shielded sex-trafficking websites from penalties.

“We will wreak havoc on the hundreds of websites profiting from the sale of sex trafficking victims across my district and our country,” said sponsor Ann Wagner, R-Mo.

The Senate has passed a different bill targeting online sex trafficking. Both bills have attracted criticism from digital advocacy groups, who say the new law could stifle free speech on the Internet.

The House will also vote on the Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act, which would ensure federal financial regulators review and identify outdated or unnecessary regulatory requirements. The law would require a review every seven years and would expand the review to more financial institutions.

The measure has the support of the banking industry.

“The bill empowers the regulators to take action to eliminate or tailor regulations that they identify as duplicative, outdated, or unnecessary,” American Bankers Association Vice President James Ballentine wrote in a letter to lawmaker encouraging passage of the legislation.

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