Time for Senate Showdown Vote on Gun Legislation Set
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Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — The showdown time has been set.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced on the Senate floor Wednesday evening that the Senate vote on guns will be at 11 a.m. ET Thursday.
The vote will, technically and procedurally speaking, be a vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to the gun legislation — in essence it will be a vote to move forward and towards a debate on the bill.
Sixty votes are needed to overcome the Republican filibuster and it looks likely that will be achieved.
“We’re going to vote, it’s time to vote, I hope we get cloture on this matter,” Reid said, “we certainly should. After that, there’s no reason not to start legislating immediately.”
Reid warned that once they get past Thursday’s vote and it passes as expected, it may take beyond next week to finish a bill, with many amendments to sort through and vote on.
“Let’s work on this bill. We’re going to start,” Reid said. “I hope that we all understand that the world is watching what we do.”
The Majority Leader said the first amendment to be considered will be the background check agreement announced by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., on Wednesday. Beyond that, Reid indicated there would be amendments on the assault weapons ban, ammunition capacity clips or magazines, and mental health, to name a few.
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