By Rebecca Gale
Dec. 20, 2012 – 3 p.m.
President Barack Obama has called for quick action on proposals to prevent gun violence and has asked Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to head a task force and “come up with a set of concrete proposals no later than January, proposals that I then intend to push without delay.”
CQ Roll Call File Photo
Feinstein says she will introduce legislation early next year to reinstate the 1994 ban on assault weapons, which lapsed in 2004.
RollCall.com has the story.
Congressional Democrats have already offered numerous ideas since the Newtown, Conn., school shooting last week. The proposals include:
Assault Weapons Ban
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., says she will introduce legislation early next year to reinstate the 1994 ban on assault weapons, which lapsed in 2004. House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., says he will push the proposal in his chamber as well. Feinstein is suggesting her new bill will be stronger than the original ban — a possible response to concerns from some gun control advocates that the previous law contained too many loopholes to be effective.
Ammunition Restrictions
Reps. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., and Diana DeGette, D- Colo., are lobbying for their legislation, which has languished in committee since January 2011, that would ban ammunition magazines of more than 10 rounds. Feinstein favors including such limits on high-capacity ammunition as part of an assault weapons ban. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., says he will reintroduce legislation in January to ban the online or mail-order sales of ammunition.
Gun Show Loophole
Lautenberg has also vowed to try to close the “gun show loophole,” which allows people to purchase guns from unlicensed dealers at gun shows without going through a criminal background check.
School Safety
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., wants to allow governors the power to activate National Guard troops who could replace police officers at their desk jobs to allow more police to protect schools. She also wants to increase funding for schools to install tip lines, surveillance equipment, metal detectors and other safety measures. Another component of her legislation would create a task force between the Justice and Education departments to develop new school safety guidelines.
The New Roll Call Debuts
A new and improved RollCall.com is available. Showcasing the best of the CQ Roll Call newsroom, the new Roll Call will increase its frequency by publishing Monday through Friday. It will feature the acclaimed Congressional and political reporting Roll Call has been known for, along with the must-read legislative coverage from the most credible and objective newsroom covering Capitol Hill*. Roll Call will also feature CQ Roll Call’s hallmark Daybook, the most trusted listing of Congressional and DC-based events available.
Visit Roll Call at RollCall.com.
By Rebecca Gale
Dec. 18, 2012 – 2 p.m.
Speaking to the families of those killed in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, President Barack Obama vowed to use “whatever power this office holds” to prevent future tragedies.
“Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage? That the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that the violence visited upon our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?” he asked in an apparent reference to the 20 children who were killed Dec. 14 along with six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
The White House has been mum about specifics, according to CQ Roll Call.
Around the country, senators and congressman have joined the call for reform of the nation’s gun laws. Speaking on MSNBC, Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., called for a new conversation on gun control, one that addresses the number of rounds each gun holds and assault weapons.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called on Congress to take action, and said, “Every idea must be on the table.”
By Rebecca Gale
Dec. 17, 2012 – 1:15 p.m.
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
Scott will be appointed to serve the remainder of DeMint's term.
Breaking news from Roll Call: South Carolina Gov. Nikki R. Haley is set to appoint Republican Rep. Tim Scott to succeed Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C..
Scott would immediately be up for re-election in 2014 to finish the rest of DeMint’s term, which expires in 2017.
DeMint announced plans to resign from Congress a week and a half ago to take the reigns of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Read the full story on RollCall.com.
Follow Roll Call Politics on the At the Races blog.
By Rebecca Gale
Dec. 13, 2012 – 1:30 p.m.
Some Latino groups have put Congress on notice.
As reported in Roll Call, a coalition of Latino advocacy groups will begin grading members of Congress on their efforts to pass a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws.
The report cards will be issued in advance of the 2014 elections “to make sure that our community understands who stood with us and who stood against us,” Ben Monterroso, the executive director of Mi Familia Vota, told reporters. “That way they will be properly informed when they vote.”
Read the full story on RollCall.com.
Also in Roll Call, a new GOP poll shows that the Republican brand is not as strong among Hispanics. Full story is here.
By Rebecca Gale
Dec. 12, 2012 – 1 p.m.
President Barack Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner have quietly traded offers in the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations.
Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call
Boehner, above, and Obama have privately traded plans on the fiscal cliff.
Roll Call’s Meredith Shiner and Niels Lesniewski report:
The White House and Congress continued their awkward tango near the edge of the fiscal cliff Tuesday, publicly lamenting long-held policy disagreements while House Republicans and President Barack Obama privately exchanged plans.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the office of Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, divulged that Republicans had made another counteroffer to the White House, in response to a previously unreported second offer from Obama. In that offer, the president reduced his demand for new revenues from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion.
Read the entire story and follow the fiscal cliff debate on RollCall.com.
