The Hill’s Morning Report — At long last, Senate strikes gun deal

by Al Weaver - 06/22/22 6:27 AM ET

Senate negotiators at long last struck a deal to combat gun violence on Tuesday, marking the culmination of weeks of talks following a spate of tragic shootings and years of inaction on the topic.

A bipartisan group of senators announced the deal on Tuesday night, which hung in the balance in recent days as the two sides haggled over the final details of the proposal. However, the 80-page bill incentivizes states to set up red flag laws, directs billions of dollars in funding for mental health treatment, close the “boyfriend” loophole and enhance background check requirements for individuals under 21 who have juvenile criminal records. Those involved hailed it as a “breakthrough” piece of legislation (The Hill).

“I believe that this week we will pass legislation that will become the most significant piece of anti-gun-violence legislation Congress will have passed in 30 years. This is a breakthrough, and, more importantly, it is a bipartisan breakthrough,” said Sen.Chris Murphy (Conn.), the lead Democratic negotiator.

The Senate took the first step to making Murphy’s belief a reality on Tuesday night as it voted 64-34 on a procedural vote on the proposal, which tees up a potential final vote on the bill by the end of the week. Senators involved in talks had repeatedly hoped to advance a bill out of the upper chamber by then as Friday kicks off the two-week recess centered around the July 4 holiday (The Hill).

Fourteen Senate Republicans backed the bill: Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mitt Romney (Utah) and Todd Young (Ind.) (The Hill).

Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa.) missed the vote but was among the 10 Senate Republicans who signed on to the initial framework two weekends ago.

▪ The Hill: What’s in the Senate’s 80-page bipartisan gun safety bill.

▪ The Hill: National Rifle Association opposes bipartisan Senate gun safety bill.

News of the deal came exactly four weeks after the horrific shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 students and two teachers and proved to be the incident that finally spurred action among legislators in Washington.

“I want to make sure we actually do something useful, something that is capable of becoming a law, something that will have the potential to save lives,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor.

▪ The Associated Press: Texas top cop: Uvalde police could’ve ended rampage early on.

▪ Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels, The Hill: Vote on Biden pick to run Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives nears as gun reform talks yield fruit.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, state election officials and lawmakers testified to the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that former President Trump and his allies waged a relentless pressure campaign pushing them to break the law in a bid to keep him in power.

Four officials — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R), Gabriel Sterling (Raffensperger’s deputy) and Georgia election worker Shaye Moss — detailed how the ex-president and his team waged the weeks-long effort and how the false claims of a stolen election led to violent threats all four individuals still face day to day.

“The numbers are the numbers, and the numbers don’t lie,” Raffensperger, who Trump had pressed to “find” 11,780 votes prior to Jan. 6 — told the panel, adding that three separate recount efforts in Georgia all determined Biden to be the winner by a “remarkably” similar margin. “What I knew is we didn’t have any votes to find” (The Hill).

Bowers, who is term-limited and running for the Arizona state Senate, laid out the actions taken by Trump and Rudy Giuliani in an attempt to flip the election in the Grand Canyon State. He said that he never told Trump he won the state or that the election was “rigged” and added that Giuliani confessed to him that their team had a lot of “theories,” but lacked the “evidence” they had hoped (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: Jan. 6 committee links Trump’s election claims to violent threats.

▪ The Hill: Bowers says Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) asked him to sign letter to decertify state’s electors.

▪ The Hill: Moss says Trump conspiracies “turned my life upside down.”

However, perhaps the committee’s biggest revelation of the day showed that a staffer for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) attempted to deliver a set of fake electors from Wisconsin and Michigan to former Vice President Mike Pence moments before Congress started the certification of Biden’s win (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

“Johnson needs to hand something to VPOTUS please advise,” Sean Riley, Johnson’s chief of staff, texted Chris Hodgson, a legislative affairs director for Pence at the time.

“What is it?” Hodgson replied.

“Alternate slate of electors for MI and WI because archivist didn’t receive them,” Riley wrote back.

“Do not give that to him,” Hodgson responded.

Johnson is staring down a tough reelection battle in November in a bid for a third term in office.

▪ The Hill: Johnson “had no foreknowledge” about fake elector slates sent to office: spokesperson.

▪ The Hill: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) calls on ex-White House lawyer to testify before Jan. 6 panel.

The committee will hold its next hearing on Thursday, which will focus on Trump’s attempts to pressure the Department of Justice and will feature former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. It will start at 3 p.m. (The Hill).

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from the latest Jan. 6 hearing.

▪ Niall Stanage: The Memo: Republican state officials, ex-election worker scorch Trump over election lies.

▪ The Washington Post: 4 takeaways from the fourth Jan. 6 hearing.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ ADMINISTRATION & ECONOMY

President Biden on Tuesday encouraged parents to get their infants and young children vaccinated as the White House celebrated the final group of Americans becoming jab-eligible.

Biden appeared at a D.C. Health vaccinating clinic alongside Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to promote the effort. Shortly after, Biden said that he understands why parents may have questions. But he argued that they shouldn’t allow that decision to become a political one as he swiped at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for being the lone governor to not to preorder COVID-19 vaccines for infants and young kids from the federal government.

“Let’s be clear, elected officials shouldn’t get in the way to make it more difficult for parents who want their children to be vaccinated and want to protect them and those around them,” Biden said at the White House. “This is no time for politics. It’s about parents being able to do everything they can to keep their children safe.”

As The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel notes, pediatricians and childrens’ hospitals could have begun administering shots immediately after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the green light if the state had a small stockpile of doses on hand.

The Washington Post: Biden administration is expected to move to cut nicotine in cigarettes.

Meanwhile, the economic news on Tuesday did no favors to the president as multiple Wall Street banks heightened the possibility of a recession in the next year.

Economists at Goldman Sachs on Monday increased the chances of an economic recession from 15 to 30 percent, citing rising inflation and the Federal Reserve’s handling of the issue. The bank also forecasted a 48 percent likelihood of a recession over the next two years.

“We now see recession risk as higher and more front-loaded,” Goldman economists said. “We are increasingly concerned that the Fed leadership has set a high and inflation-specific bar for slowing the pace of tightening.”

At Morgan Stanley, economists pegged the chances of a recession over the next 12 months at 35 percent (Reuters). The financial forecasts also heaped pressure once again on the White House, which once again cast doubt that a recession is in the cards.

“We don’t see a recession right now. We’re not in a recession right now,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

The president later today is set to announce an attempted remedy on one front: A call for a gasoline tax holiday, marking a move that has been previewed by him and other administration officials in recent days. The action, which requires a legislative act, would temporarily lift the 18 cent tax per gallon on gasoline and 24 cent tax per gallon on diesel during the summer months.

“A federal gas tax suspension alone won’t fix the problem we face, but it will provide families a little breathing room as we continue working to bring down prices for the long haul,” a senior administration official told reporters on a call previewing the announcement (The Hill).

Whether the move would actually give much breathing room to consumers remains an open question. Jason Furman, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Obama, said on Tuesday that the temporary 18-cent reduction would likely be “pocketed” by the oil industry.

“Whatever you thought of the merits of a gas tax holiday in February, it is a worse idea now,” Furman tweeted.

▪ Sylvan Lane, The Hill: White House seeks to quell recession anxiety.

▪ The Associated Press: Biden, Chevron chief trade sharp words over gas prices.

▪ The Hill: Biden can’t escape questions on his age.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: U.S. existing-home sale prices hit record of $407,600 in May.

▪ The Hill: Tech firms cut staff amid recession fears.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ POLITICS

Katie Britt handily took home the Alabama GOP Senate runoff on Tuesday, defeating Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and cementing herself as the favorite to replace the retiring Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

Britt, who previously served as Shelby’s chief of staff and most recently was CEO of the Alabama Business Council, pulled in 63 percent to just 37 percent for Brooks, who saw his hopes effectively dashed in March when Trump pulled his endorsement amid a downturn in the polls for the lawmaker.

Trump eventually backed Britt earlier this month despite deriding her last year as Shelby’s “assistant.” She will face Democrat Will Boyd in November (The Hill).

However, the wins for Trump on the night were few and far between, especially in Georgia where two of his preferred candidates lost.

Emergency room doctor Rich McCormick won his primary in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, topping attorney Jake Evans. Additionally, Mike Collins toppled former state Rep. Vernon Jones (R) in a primary runoff in the state’s 10th congressional district.

Jones, a former Democrat, dropped his bid in the state’s GOP gubernatorial primary after Trump promised to endorse him in the congressional race. Ironically, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) endorsed Collins, effectively turning the race into a proxy war between the two GOP foes (The Hill).

The Hill: Democrats face warning signs over Latino support.

On the Democratic side, Bowser on Tuesday beat back a primary challenge from a pair of D.C. city council members — Robert White and Trayon White — effectively handing her a third term atop the District (The Washington Post).

As of this morning, Bowser won 50 percent of the vote to 38.6 percent for Robert White. Trayon White, who is perhaps best known for echoing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Rothschilds are “controlling the climate,” won 9.8 percent of the vote.

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OPINION

■ These 11 moderate voters see an America that others don’t, by Patrick Healy and Adrian J. Rivera, deputy opinion editor and opinion editorial assistant, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3bjBOqM

■ How Russia’s vaunted cyber capabilities were frustrated in Ukraine, by David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3HI7nGQ

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at 10 a.m.

The Senate convenes at 11 a.m.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m. Biden will also deliver remarks about gas prices at 2 p.m.

Vice President Harris will ceremonially swear in Michèle Taylor to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council at 4:40 p.m. Harris will follow suit at 5:05 p.m. and ceremonially swear in Scott Miller to be ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The White House daily briefing is scheduled at 3 p.m.

🖥 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://digital-staging.thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE

➤ SUPREME COURT

It was opinion day at the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday ruled against an education policy in Maine that barred K-12 schools that involved religious instruction from receiving taxpayer-backed tuition aid in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines. The court’s six conservatives declared that the state’s so-called sectarian exclusion violated constitutional religious protections (The Hill). In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused the conservatives of further eroding church-state separation (The Hill).

Justices on Tuesday also rejected an appeal from Bayer, which sought to throw out a “bellwether” lawsuit alleging its Roundup weed killer is carcinogenic. The decision means a judgment ordering the company to pay $25 million to Edwin Hardeman, who claimed Roundup led him to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma — will remain intact (The Hill).

➤ PANDEMIC & POX

The show must go on — masks or no masks. Broadway’s 41 theaters on Tuesday announced that they will lift their mask mandates starting next month and adopt a mask option policy. The masking rules will be determined on a month-by-month basis (The Hill). … Uber said on Tuesday that it is reintroducing its shared rides, a feature that allows passengers to share rides that are heading in a similar direction for a cheaper price. The feature — formerly known as UberPool — was suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic. It will be restarted in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, among other cities (CNBC).

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,014,040. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 239, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ TECH

Twitter’s board of directors on Tuesday recommended unanimously that shareholders approve Elon Musk’s bid to buy the company, saying that his $44 billion offer is fair and in the best interests of Twitter and its stockholders. Once the merger is done, stockholders will be entitled to $54.20 per share, the board said. Still in question is how Twitter will resolve the ongoing conflict with Musk over the number of bots on the platform (The Hill).

THE CLOSER

And finally … an initial foursome, if you will.

Trumpet the bloodhound, Hollywood the Maltese, Winston the French bulldog and River the German shepherd were selected on Tuesday to be the first four pups to advance to the final round of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

Three more finalists will be revealed today, with all seven competing for the top prize tonight in the competition’s 146th edition in Tarrytown, N.Y. (The Associated Press).

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