WASHINGTON- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Senate Republicans are moving ahead on tax reform despite Democrats’ calls for gun control legislation after the Sunday night mass shooting in Las Vegas that left 59 dead and hundreds more injured.
McConnell pushed back questions from reporters at his weekly press conference about the Las Vegas shooting, stressing that it was “inappropriate to politicize” the event, which is still under investigation.
“Our priority is on tax reform,” McConnell said. “We are going to press ahead with that, in the budget committee this week, and it will be out on the floor after the recess.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the president to take on the issue of gun-control during the Democratic weekly press conference, conceding it will be an uphill battle while tangling with Republicans over tax reform.
“I have requested of the president to call us together, Democrats and Republicans to come up with a reasonable solution,” Schumer said. “Before he was a candidate and marched in lockstep to the NRA, Donald Trump expressed a reasonable position on gun control.”
On Monday, House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent an official document directed to House Speaker Paul Ryan, pushing for a Select Committee on Gun Violence.
With a Republican party desperate for a big legislative win, tax reform is likely to reach the floor of the Senate for a vote before the Senate enters recess.
Democrats want to slow down the process and the working budget proposal from the GOP and used their press conference as an opportunity to begin framing it as unfavorable to the middle class.
“The Republican tax reform plan and budget is a dream for billionaires and giant corporations but a nightmare for millions of Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid,” Schumer said.
Despite early criticism of the proposal from Democrats, Republicans remain firm in billing their plan as help for the middle class.
Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Barrasso R-WY, said “The focus of tax reform is to improve the quality of life for American families, and you do that by lowering individual tax rates – and lowering corporate rates.”