WASHINGTON — A rare House Republican who supports stricter gun control measures said he won’t back a Democratic effort to end-run Speaker Kevin McCarthy and force a vote on a trio of bills to implement those restrictions.
“At some point we need to start thinking about getting things done rather than sending messages across the floor of the House,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said in an interview on Thursday.
“It’s a very intellectually dishonest way of proceeding when you don’t have any strategy” to pass the bills through the Senate, he said.
A trio of House Democrats — Reps. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Mike Thompson, D-Calif. — is pushing discharge petitions to try and force votes on a bill to ban assault weapons and two bills to impose tougher background checks for gun sales. The tactic requires signatures from a majority of the House in order to force floor votes against the wishes of GOP leaders in charge.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., unveiled the strategy to try and go around McCarthy in a Democratic meeting earlier this week, two sources told NBC News.
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Fitzpatrick was one of Democrats’ few, if only, natural allies to get a majority of the House to support the move. His opposition deals a major blow to the push, which will require at least a half-dozen House Republicans to sign the discharge petition to succeed in forcing a vote.
The Pennsylvania Republican is the author of one of the measures, along with Thompson, to require background checks for nearly all private gun transfers. Last year, he was one of two Republicans who voted with Democrats to pass an assault weapons ban. The other, Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-N.Y., has since retired. He was also one of eight Republicans who voted for stricter background checks. (Both bills died in the Senate, due to overwhelming Republican opposition.)
Fitzpatrick said he is focusing instead on building broader support for his bill with Thompson. He re-introduced the bill in February, though he admitted he’s having limited success.
“It’s hard. It’s a sensitive issue for a lot of people obviously,” he said.
Democrats sought to use a discharge petition earlier this year to force Republicans to hold a vote on a clean debt ceiling increase, but never got any Republicans to sign on. Still, they’re making another attempt to put swing-district Republicans in a tough position.
“I don’t appreciate tactics like this,” said Fitzpatrick, one of 18 House Republicans who represent districts that President Joe Biden won in 2020. “Every single time we pass this bill, everyone’s like: ‘Our work’s done.’ It’s not done. If you actually care about getting a ton go over there and figure out how to get 60 votes.”
The Senate is controlled by Democrats on a split of 51 to 49. It requires 60 votes to break a filibuster on gun legislation, and GOP senators say their members oppose tougher firearm laws.
House Republicans have not put forward any legislation to address the continued rise in mass shootings this year.
The strategy to pursue a discharge petition for the gun bills has raised hackles within the Democratic caucus.
It made sense “under very specific conditions” on the debt limit with a deadline nearing, said a frustrated senior House Democratic aide. “Trying to replicate that with other issues is a mistake,” the aide said.
One problem for Democrats is that not all of their members are on board with pursuing the petition for an assault weapons ban, which mitigates at least some pressure for Republicans to sign on.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, a centrist, said Thursday he will sign the petitions for the two background check bills but “probably” won’t sign on to the assault weapons ban.
Asked if the discharge petition was the correct approach, given the lack of Democratic consensus, Cuellar responded: “I can’t speak on that. I’m just giving you my position.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
