House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a statement on Monday blasted President Trump over his response to two weekend mass shootings while calling for the Senate to reconvene and pass gun background check legislation.
In a joint statement, the two top Democrats criticized Trump for not mentioning anything in his speech on Monday about "strong background checks" after he tweeted his support for them earlier in the morning.
"It took less than three hours for the president to back off his call for stronger background check legislation," Pelosi and Schumer said, NBC News reports. "When he can't mention guns while talking about gun violence, it shows the president remains prisoner to the gun lobby and the NRA."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Pelosi and Schumer also said that the Senate must "immediately" come back into session in order to pass background check legislation that was previously passed by the House, with the Democrats also suggesting the public should ramp up the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to allow such a vote.
"The public must weigh in and demand passage of this legislation for the safety of our children," Pelosi and Schumer conclude.
Trump in his tweet on Monday had suggested tying the passage of background check legislation with immigration reform, though he did not get into specifics or mention whether he might support the House background check legislation. In his speech on Monday, Trump didn't bring up this proposal and said that "mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun."
-
August 10 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a global plastics problem, GOP enthusiasm over tariffs, and more
-
5 thin-skinned cartoons about shooting the messengerCartoons Artists take on unfavorable weather, a look in the mirror, and more
-
Is Trump's new peacemaking model working in DR Congo?Talking Point Truce brokered by the US president in June is holding, but foundations of a long-term peace have let to be laid
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monumentsSpeed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seatspeed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring pushSpeed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additionsSpeed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein filesSpeed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
-
India rejects Trump threat over Russian oilSpeed Read The president said he would raise tariffs on India for buying and selling Russian oil
-
NY's Hochul vows response to Texas gerrymanderSpeed Read Gov. Kathy Hochul has promised to play ball with redistricting that favors the Democrats
-
Texas Democrats exit state to block redistricting voteSpeed Read More than 51 legislators fled the state in protest of the GOP's plan to redraw congressional districts
