The final result of the vote was 47-47. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer changed his vote from “yes” to “no” at the end of the procedure so that he could return the bill in the future if he wished.
At least 10 Republicans in the Senate should vote with Democrats to meet the 60-vote threshold imposed by the Filibuster.
The failure of the Senate Domestic Terrorism Bill underscores once again how challenging it is for lawmakers to make any major policy change following the mass shootings amid a highly polarized political environment and widespread Republican opposition to tighter gun control. .
Only one Republican, Adam Kingsinger of Illinois, voted in favor when the Democrat-led House approved it after the Buffalo supermarket shooting. The Justice Department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and an “act of racially motivated violent extremism.” The nation was rocked by another devastating mass shooting Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school before being killed by law enforcement officials, officials said.
The shooting at the primary school sparked passionate calls from Democrats for anti-gun violence legislation and resumed a debate on gun control on Capitol Hill, but it seems highly unlikely that the long-running and deep-rooted guerrilla impasse on gun control will be broken.
The Internal Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 will establish services specifically focused on domestic terrorism in the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI.
The services will monitor and analyze domestic terrorist activity in order to better prepare the federal government to identify risks in order to take preventive action.
The bill creates a requirement to report domestic terrorist threats every two years. He also called for an assessment of the threat posed specifically by white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
Senate Republican John Tune, who represents South Dakota, said Wednesday that it is “unlikely” 10 Republicans will vote to move forward the House of Representatives bill on domestic terrorism because, he said, the White House and the Department of Justice have indicated that they already have the bodies provided for in the bill.
“These are a lot of things they already have the power to do,” Thun said, giving the first official confirmation from a Republican leader that the bill, a top priority for Democrats, will not pass in the Senate.
Ahead of Thursday morning’s vote, Sumer called on the Senate to pass a bill passed by the House of Representatives, but acknowledged it was unlikely to advance amid opposition to the Republican Party.
“Today, the Senate will have a chance to act on a devastating issue that has recently become a growing component of the U.S. epidemic of gun violence – the evil spread of white supremacy and domestic terrorism,” he said.
But Sumer added: “I know the chances of getting 10 votes on this bill are slim, unfortunately, given the influence of Republicans from MAGA.” He went on to say: “There are many MAGA Republicans for whom no gun violence – whether it is domestic terrorism, school shootings, neighborhood shootings or anything else – will never persuade them to take any action. . “
Schumer said Democrats were ready to devote some time and space to efforts to reach some kind of bipartisan compromise on arms legislation, although he noted the chances were high. He also made it clear that these efforts will not be given an indefinite period of time and that if they fail, the Senate will move forward with a vote on arms safety legislation.
“We have to try everything. We must not leave a single stone unturned,” he said.
But he added that “this is not an invitation to hold talks indefinitely. Make no mistake, if these talks do not bear fruit in a short period of time, the Senate will vote on arms security legislation,” he said.
Senate Democrats took steps Tuesday night to include in the legislative calendar two House of Representatives-approved bills to check the past so they can be voted on. However, it is unclear when the Senate can vote on the measures and they are not expected to overcome the Republican’s filibuster.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky criticized the bill on domestic terrorism in a speech Thursday before the vote.
“Today we will have before us a bill, ostensibly entitled on the topic of domestic terrorism. But this bill will be more accurately called the Democrats’ plan to stigmatize and insult our police officers and soldiers as white supremacists and neo-Nazis – how insulting, “he said.
CNN’s Ted Barrett, Manu Raju, Ali Zaslav and Eric Levenson contributed.
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