A U.S. Senate bill to expand gun-buyer background checks teetered between
triumph and defeat Wednesday amid growing opposition ahead of a showdown vote.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled an afternoon vote, saying
he was hopeful of a victory for the bipartisan amendment from Sens. Joe Manchin,
D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would broaden background checks to all
online and gun-show sales.
"I think there's significant momentum," Reid told reporters Tuesday. "Now, am I
saying it's all over with, done, we got the votes? No, but we certainly feel we
have the wind at our back."
But growing numbers of the 55 senators who caucus with Democrats were likely to
reject the proposal, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Manchin told reporters the measure needed last-minute Republican support to
defeat a 60-vote threshold needed to overcome any conservative GOP-led
filibuster threat.
"We need some help with the Republicans," Manchin said. "We need more than what
we have."
Among GOP senators, only Toomey, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Susan Collins of
Maine have said they plan to vote for the amendment.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has said he's inclined to support it.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said late Tuesday he would vote against the amendment,
leaving only Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and five Democrats as not saying how
they plan to vote.
Forty-eight Democrats and two independents have said they will back the
amendment, including Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who at age 89 is the oldest
current senator and has missed recent votes due to muscle weakness and fatigue.
If Lautenberg and McCain both vote for the measure, Democrats would need all six
of the undecided lawmakers to overcome the 60-vote threshold, the Journal said.
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely wounded in a January 2011
shooting in her home state of Arizona that left six other people dead, appealed
to the Senate Democratic Caucus lunch Tuesday to support the measure.
Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who have
been pushing for stronger gun-control measures after December's deadly Sandy
Hook Elementary School shooting, also pleaded for support, as did Sen. Tim
Kaine, D-Va., who was governor during 2007's Virginia Tech massacre.
Manchin and Toomey had considered changing their amendment to win colleague
support by exempting rural residents who live far from licensed dealers.
But the change didn't persuade swing senators and was likely to be dropped, a
Senate aide told the Journal.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told the newspaper the exemption wasn't enough to
win her vote.
"In Alaska you're pretty much pro-gun. That about sums it up," she said.
