Hyde hurdle: abortion slows gun bill text

[spanone]

TEXT TESTS GUN DEAL TIMELINE — Senate negotiators and their staff spent the long weekend putting the finishing touches on bipartisan gun safety legislation but haven't yet released text. The Senate is back in session today and aides are expecting that text will be made public soon. (There were previous expectations of a bill drop on Monday afternoon or evening, but that didn’t pan out.)

What’s the holdup? A GOP source familiar with the long weekend’s talks tells us that the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion, has come into play in the discussions over the bill’s health care provisions. That means that two of the most divisive and visceral political issues in the country – guns and abortion – could be paired together.

Recess reality: If the Senate moves forward procedurally this afternoon, that could still set up final passage by the end of the week. (Theoretically, the process could bleed into the weekend absent cooperation from all 100 senators, but the Senate is also scheduled to leave at the end of the week for a two-week recess.)

If there is no legislative language today, the goal of passing the bill before the Independence Day recess could be out of reach. As legislative action gets pushed back again and again , negotiators risk losing the momentum and political will that brought them together in the first place immediately after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas and a racist mass shooter opened fire and killed ten people at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/huddle/2022/06/21/if-text-lags-timeline-could-falter-on-guns-00040915

[jimfields33]

1. Make two separate bills

Not sure why they add stuff to bills anyway. The gun safety bill must pass before vacation. They have 4 days left. Upon their returns will be all campaigning. Remember august is another month they are not in session. They return after Labor Day.

[Lochloosa]

2. They are called Poison Pills. Add something that will kill the original bill.

[jimfields33]

3. So ridiculous and unnecessary

Think of how much would pass if they just passed original bills.

[Karma13612]

4. I think those are called "clean bills"?

Yea, it’s really pathetic how bills are turned into sludge with these tactics of combining non-related issues to block everything.

And it’s also how politicians are skewered for voting certain ways. You only hear that they voted “yea” or “no” on a bill that you were routing for. You rarely hear the why. If a good bill contains a very bad provision, you aren’t aware unless someone actually gets airtime or camera time to explain why they voted no or yes on something.

The system is broken.

[Wounded Bear]

5. As usual, delay, delay, delay. Triggering event slips into the past...

public support wavers or is distracted to other shiny objects/squirrels.

Nothing gets done.

[SoonerPride]

6. Charlie Bown keeps trying to kick that football.

Democrats keep trying to work with Republicans on guns.

Why bother?

It is just a charade.

[Amishman]

7. Because doing it without them isn't possible

We don't have the votes to do it alone.

With the outlook for Nov, that is unlikely to change.

With the Senate map for 2024, probably won't change then either

[SoonerPride]

8. And yet, unsurprisingly, doing it with them is also impossible.

Quite a fine mess we have gotten ourselves into.