Ted Cruz's NRA Filibuster Crushed

The failed filibusterers

With only two conservative Democrats caving to NRA pressure-- Mark Pryor (AR) and Mark Begich (AK)-- but with 16 Republicans agreeing that there should at least be a debate on gun safety, the Senate ended the filibuster led by Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Miss McConnell. The filibuster was shut down 68-31.

When Mark Begich first ran for the Senate in 2008, Blue America endorsed him and helped him raise some money. He's been a disappointment ever since, the polar opposite of courageous, seemingly only interested in extending his own career. His overall ProgressivePunch crucial vote score, 78.96, is putrid enough, but, with his reelection campaign gearing up, he's made a conscious effort to move further to the right. His score for the 113th Congress is a shocking 57.14. The only Democratic senators voting more frequently with Miss McConnell are Mark Pryor (his fellow filibuster), Joe Manchin (WV), Claire McCaskill (MO) and Kay Hagan (NC). Needless to say, if there was any chance Blue America would have re-endorsed Begich-- and, realistically, there wasn't-- he blew it today by attempting to deny the right of the Senate to even debate gun safety regulations. Good luck getting those Republicans in Alaska to vote for you, Mark.

These are the Republicans-- several willing to court primaries for the neo-fascist right and the deep-pocketed gun manufacturers lobby-- who voted against the filibuster yesterday:

• Lamar Alexander (TN)
• Kelly Ayotte (NH)
• Richard Burr (NC)
• Saxby Chambliss (GA)
• Tom Coburn (OK)
• Susan Collins (ME)
• Bob Corker (TN)
• Jeff Flake (AZ)
• Lindsey Graham (SC)
• Dean Heller (NV)
• John Hoeven (ND)
• Johnny Isakson (GA)
• Mark Kirk (IL)
• John McCain (AZ)
• Pat Toomey (PA)
• Roger Wicker (MS)

Now the debate begins. It's expected to last a couple weeks before the Senate finally votes on the weak and watered down gun safety proposals.

“With the vote we take today, we are turning the page. Against the NRA’s dominance, we are turning the page to do what is right by these families and by the American people,”  Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a news conference with the family members.

Turning to the families, Schumer said Newtown was the reason the Senate acted. “The only reason we are turning the page is because of you. You spoke to Congress. You spoke to the American people. We looked in your eyes, we saw your loss. We saw the hole where your child, your sibling, your parent used to be.”

Despite the vote to proceed, several Republicans said they would continue to oppose the legislation.

“The government should not punish or harass law-abiding citizens in the exercise of their Second Amendment rights,” Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said.

Miss McConnell can lisp all the misleading NRA talking points he wants, but he very well aware that nothing in the legislation punishes or harasses any law-abiding citizens and is completely unrelated to the Second Amendment.

But Reid said Thursday that the first amendment to be debated is a bipartisan agreement to expand the gun background-check program that was announced Wednesday by Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Schumer. The agreement would extend the current background-check requirement from covering only sales at licensed dealerships to any sale that takes place at a gun show or that is advertised in print or online. However, checks would not be required for many sales between private individuals-- a key concession by Democrats that gun-control advocates eagerly sought.

The proposal also would permit gun dealers to sell firearms across state lines, and gun owners with state-issued permits to carry concealed weapons would be allowed to take their firearms through states that don’t allow concealed weapons. The bipartisan agreement also calls for establishing a national commission to evaluate causes of mass violence.

Other proposed changes to the bill will come from members of both parties.

Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) plan to introduce changes to the gun-trafficking provisions that would bolster legal protections for lawful gun owners who purchase weapons to give as gifts or raffle and contest prizes and are later used in a crime.

In a nod to groups seeking tighter gun restrictions, several Democratic senators plan to support amendments to ban military-style assault weapons and to limit the size of ammunition clips, but those measures are expected to fail. Another bipartisan group of senators plans to propose expanding programs that provide mental health assistance to military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

By yesterday afternoon, Boehner was pushing back against NRA operatives inside his House caucus who are demanding he kill the legislation-- if it passes the Senate-- when it comes to the House. He said the Hastert Rule was "never a rule anyway," opening up the possibility of him working with Obama to put together GOP-Democratic majorities to pass gun legislation, immigration and, of course, a budget, all of which are opposed by most Republican House members. It would be hilarious to see him thrown out by his own caucus and watch Cantor become the first Jewish Speaker before the loathsome Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who inherited that dream from her mentor, Rahm Emanuel.