Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he encouraged caucus members to continue to negotiate with Republicans about gun legislation, Politico reported Tuesday.
"Schumer says he's 'encouraging my Democratic colleagues to keep talking, to see if our Republican colleagues will work with us ... to help stop gun violence,'" Politico's Burgess Everett tweeted Tuesday morning.
"We know we're not going to get everything we want. Sen. [Chris] Murphy has asked for some space for negotiations."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the leading Republican in the talks, on Monday urged Schumer to give negotiators sufficient time to either reach a deal or fail.
"I hope the Democratic leader will allow bipartisan discussions to continue and then conclude before he pulls the plug and schedules show-votes on something he knows can't pass," Cornyn said in a floor speech.
Politico earlier Tuesday reported that senators discussing gun reform were not facing a hard deadline.
Cornyn and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., met with Murphy, D-Conn., who said lawmakers were continuing to "make progress on narrowing and refining" the legislation's scope.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he intended to initiate discussion with his fellow Republicans to gauge if there were the necessary 10 GOP votes for passing any legislation, Politico reported.
The Senate Judiciary Committee was examining the "metastasizing" threat of domestic terrorism following the Buffalo, New York, attack in which 10 people were killed, Politico said.
In the House, the Rules Committee had an afternoon hearing scheduled to analyze measures that will increase the age limit to legally purchase firearms from 18 to 21, and would federally enact so-called red-flag laws, Politico reported.
Top Republican and Democratic senators have signaled reluctance to involve the White House in negotiations regarding gun reform.
"I think the Senate needs to do this ourselves," Murphy told CNN on Sunday. "I have talked to the White House every single day since these negotiations began. But right now, the Senate needs to handle these negotiations."
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said President Joe Biden was "not being very helpful" to the cause of forwarding bipartisan gun reform after his Thursday address.
"This is going to come down to whether we can reach a consensus in the United States Senate," Toomey told Fox News on Monday.
Gun reform has become a intense topic following mass shootings in Buffalo and in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24. At least 17 other children and adults were injured.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.