Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) expressed some frustration on Sunday over President Donald Trump’s vagueness regarding plans to address gun violence.
When NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Blunt, the Senate’s fourth-ranking Republican, if a bill to expand background checks will make it to the floor for a vote, the Missouri Republican pointed to Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) stance that no bills that Trump is unwilling to sign would be put to a vote.
“The President needs to step up here and set some guidelines for what he would do,” Blunt told Todd.
Blunt also blamed Senate Minority leader Chuck Shumer (D-NY) for the chamber’s logjam on the issue, saying that Schumer is “not willing to do anything” if Republicans don’t “do everything.”
“Well, call his bluff,” Todd said. “Call his bluff and see if he really means it.”
“Well, and if the President will let us know what he’d sign if it got on his desk, we could–we’d be much more likely to do that,” Blunt responded.
Despite the three mass shootings in August, Trump has yet to give a clear plan on curtailing curtail the epidemic of gun violence in the country. After the shootings in Odessa and Midland, Texas, Trump mentioned an unspecified “package” that’s “coming about right now,” but he also cast doubt on the efficacy of background checks.
Watch Blunt below:
GOP Sen. Roy Blunt: Trump needs to "step up here and set some guidelines" on addressing gun violence pic.twitter.com/vIcmewGcuU
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 8, 2019
H/t Politico.
