Today Republican Sen. Richard Burr and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan voted for cloture on the so-called Manchin-Toomey gun-control bill, along with 14 other Republicans and all but two Democrats.
That means that the bill now needs only 51 votes to pass in the Senate. But, funny thing is, no one has actually seen any bill language. All that exists is an itemized list produced by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania that says what is supposed to be in the bill.
You can understand how a Democrat like Hagan, who thinks the Second Amendment is all about hunting, would go along with this. But, as many times as Democrats have betrayed Republicans in similar situations, you’d think at least Burr would realize that voting on a pig in a poke is not smart.
As Sen. Ted Cruz and some allies said in a statement today:
This morning the Senate will vote on the motion to proceed to the firearms bill (S.649). It is expected that the Toomey-Manchin provision announced yesterday will replace the current language regarding background checks. Yet, as of this morning, not a single senator has been provided the legislative language of this provision. Because the background-check measure is the centerpiece of this legislation it is critical that we know what is in the bill before we vote on it. The American people expect more and deserve better.
Unfortunately, the effort to push through legislation that no one had read highlights one of the primary reasons we announced our intention to force a 60 vote threshold. We believe the abuse of the process is how the rights of Americans are systematically eroded and we will continue to do everything in our power to prevent it.
We all know what happened when an Obamacare bill was voted upon before anyone had read it. Now we’re doing the same with gun-control legislation.
