Eliza Collins, politics reporter at the Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the bipartisan gun reform framework and the progress made on turning the outline into an actual bill.

Cheddar Politics

Senators Inch Closer to Bipartisan Gun Reform Bill

Welcome back to cheddar politics. I'm Megan prats in Washington, D. C. Gun reform has a fraught history on Capitol Hill Congress has done next to nothing major to curb gun violence since the 90s. Even the shooting at Sandy Hook didn't push Republicans to act this time though. Could be different as a bipartisan group of senators has put out a framework for a package of gun reform measures that has the support of 10 republicans, that magic number needed to overcome a filibuster joining us Now is Eliza Collins politics, reporter at the Wall Street Journal and friend of cheddar Eliza. Thank you so much for being on with us. Let's break it down. What's the latest we know and where negotiations stand today. So you're exactly right. This bipartisan group released a framework that they said they all agreed to. Now, of course the devil is always in the details. But a really key thing happened when minority Leader mitch McConnell endorsed the framework and basically said if they were able to carry that over into legislative text, he would support it. Now, McConnell does not bless anything unless he thinks it can pass with a significant number of his members. So that was very significant when he said that earlier this week. But now they're trying to actually turn this into legislative text and there are some hold ups on that actual gun control portions of this funding for school safety funding for mental health. Those are things republicans are absolutely on board with and want to happen. Seems like those are moving ahead. But the parts where there's actually control over guns and what democrats want is what they're sort of negotiating over. So these red flag laws, incentives to give states, um, funding so that they'll put in place red flag laws which allows law enforcement to take guns from people that are deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others. And the boyfriend loophole closing the boyfriend loophole. So right now, if you have a conviction and you are married to someone or have a kid with someone or live with them, they can, their guns can be confiscated. Democrats want to expand that to include people that are dating and both of those things right now, republicans are having some issues with the oh, they were in the framework. I have to tell you when I first saw the framework that boyfriend loophole thing stuck out to me because you'll remember the violence against women act couldn't be reauthorized because of that boyfriend loophole being in there for three years. So I think that this is a big change and I want you to kind of walk us through how big of a change it is for, you know, especially for mitch McConnell to say, yeah, I'll vote for it if the framework matches. I think that that just how monumental is that, because it's kind of cyclical, right? He says he'll support it, that brings more republicans on board. That means that he'll support it because more republicans are on board. So tell me more about that There's absolutely been a shift within the Republican Party. I mean, you mentioned earlier, this would be the most significant piece of gun legislation since the 90s when they passed the assault weapons ban. Now that expired later, that is not on the table. This is much smaller than an assault weapons ban. Let's be clear, but there is some concern from Republicans, they're hearing from their voters from the sort of swing voters, suburban moms who are scared to send their kids to school. And so there is this faction of the Republican Party that feels like they have to do something in order to protect the Second Amendment is what they say. So they're at least at the table, they feel like they need to be at the table and negotiating in order to um at least seem like they're taking this seriously now where democrats are seizing on this, but democrats have also lowered their expectations. Chris Murphy has been working on this issue um, since the Sandy Hook shooting In 2012 and he's saying that he's willing to accept less as long as they do something. So it is a big shift that they're all at the table negotiating this and you're exactly right, closing the boyfriend loophole if they can figure out how to do it would be very signify. I'm glad you mentioned the step because the White House has said the same thing, right? They'd rather take a small step than have no steps again. Let's talk about chris Murphy because he has said that this will prove to republicans that they won't face political consequences for, you know, acting in a reasonable way on guns. He can't really promise that though. So why do you think he's making that claim? Well, quite frankly, it's going to be really good here for republicans electorally? Um, not because of guns, but because the economy struggling President biden has these very low poll numbers. And so democrats are very aware that republicans are likely going to pick up seats, You know, over here on the hill. You know, this sort of conventional wisdom is that the House will probably flip to republicans. The Senate really is a coin toss. So republicans will win. And polling shows that on measures like background checks and sort of more moderate gun control measures Like nine out of 10 voters are there? And so, you know, Murphy is taking a gamble, but it's a pretty educated gamble and saying that Republicans probably will be reelected if they support these measures? That's a really good point, because it is going to be a good year for republicans most likely. Okay, so why why are there concerns that this framework might break down and why have they broken down in the past? See this is the thing about legislation, right? You said it the devil's in the details frameworks are great bills are something totally different, right? As I mentioned before, there are those concerns from republicans about the red flag laws and closing the boyfriend loophole and Senator john cornyn key republican negotiator. The lead republican negotiator here earlier today said we're having issues with the boyfriend loophole. If we can't figure them out, we'll just remove that from the legislation. Now, that would be a big loss for democrats. And so right now they're negotiating, they have plans to talk today. Their goal is to get legislative text by the end of this week. They still say they can do it, but it's tenuous. And this is the problem with bipartisan talks on capitol Hill. They often get really far and then fall apart. I mean, I covered negotiations for police reform last summer that went on for months and months and seemed like they were very close at times before they eventually fell apart. So everyone is basically holding their breath here. But I think some things are different this time. The McConnell endorsement, the pretty detailed framework. Um, and the fact that they have those 10 republicans out of the gate endorsing the framework, but that doesn't mean they'll necessarily come to an agreement on everything Eliza do you think it's gonna pass, you know, it's capitol Hill? I have no idea, but I will say it looks better than other negotiations that I have covered. Oh, that's a good that's a good answer. I appreciate it. I will share that. I think it has the best chance of passing of most bipartisan talks I've seen over contentious issues in a long time. Do you agree? I think that's accurate. And the group that are negotiating. I mean senator cinema was one of the negotiators on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was the last significant that we saw where they came out with a framework. They came out with details. They had those 10 Republicans. So negotiators are hoping it follows that path and not the police reform path. I'm sure they are. Thank you so much Eliza for coming in and breaking that down for us Eliza, Collins. Politics reporter at The Wall Street Journal.