WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) on Tuesday to call on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring bipartisan legislation to the Senate floor that has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is supported by a majority of the American people, like protections for people with pre-existing conditions, universal background checks, and fair elections and election security. 

Specifically, Murphy called on the Senate to bring up Bipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R.8), which passed the House in February. Murphy introduced the companion bill, the Background Check Expansion Act, in the Senate to expand the federal background checks to all gun sales. 97% of Americans support comprehensive background checks. Research indicates that as many as a quarter of all gun sales in the United States may occur without a background check.

“There’s no one that I meet that thinks that there are no improvements we can make to the health care system, that there’s nothing we can do to make our kids safer when they go to school, that the economy needs absolutely no adjustment. There’s no one I meet that thinks that we should do nothing and yet that is what the Senate is doing today,” said Murphy. “Kids today do not feel safe in their schools. Parents today are so fearful of the next mass shooting. Our city streets are less safe today than they have been in years, and there is a bipartisan bill that the House passed, HR 8, which reflects the will of 95% of Americans, to require that everybody prove they are not a criminal before they buy a bill.” 

“It’s time for the United States Senate to stop being a legislative graveyard, and start doing the work of the American people. The background checks bill would be a good place to start,” Murphy added.

The full text of Murphy’s remarks is below:

“I don’t meet anybody in Connecticut who thinks that the Senate should do nothing. 

“There’s no one that I meet that thinks that there are no improvements we can make to the health care system, that there’s nothing we can do to make our kids safer when they go to school, that the economy needs absolutely no adjustment. There’s no one I meet that thinks that we should do nothing and yet that is what the Senate is doing today. 

“Three times a week the Senate Republicans meet for lunch behind us, and occasionally they walk into that chamber and take a vote or two or three each week on judges. That is the sum total of the Senate’s work today. 

“Mitch McConnell has effectively turned the United States Senate into a very expensive lunch club that occasionally votes on a judge or two. That is not what the American people want us to do. 

“Kids today do not feel safe in their schools. Parents today are so fearful of the next mass shooting. Our city streets are less safe today than they have been in years and there is a bipartisan bill the House passed, H.R. 8, which reflects the will of 95% of all Americans to require that everybody have to prove that they’re not a criminal before they buy a gun. 

“We cannot get a vote in the Senate on that bill, we cannot get a debate in the Senate on that bill, we can’t even get a public hearing on that bill in the United States Senate despite the fact that it is in front of us from the House of Representatives and supported by 90% of Americans.

“Apple pie and grandma aren’t 90% supported by the American public. Background checks are. It’s time for the Senate to stop being a legislative graveyard and start doing the work of the American people. The background checks bill would be a good place to start.” 

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