Pelosi, Schumer urge Trump to back universal background check bill

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (KUNA) -- US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer spoke Sunday to President Donald Trump by phone "at their request," marking 200 days since the Democratic House passed H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, bipartisan legislation "to expand background checks to include guns sold at gun shows, online and through person-to-person." In a joint statement, Pelosi and Schumer affirmed that they "Made it clear to the President that any proposal he endorses that does not include the House-passed universal background checks legislation will not get the job done, as dangerous loopholes will still exist and people who shouldn't have guns will still have access." For its part, the White House said in a statement, "The conversation was cordial." It stressed that Trump "made no commitments on H.R. 8, but instead indicated his interest in working to find a bipartisan legislative solution on appropriate responses to the issue of mass gun violence." "The President reiterated his commitment for his administration to continue work on these issues," it noted.
Meanwhile, Schumer tweeted about the call, saying that he and Pelosi "even promised President Trump that if he endorses the House-passed, universal background checks legislation and gets Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to act on it, we would both join him for a historic signing ceremony at the Rose Garden." For her part, Pelosi tweeted "200 days ago, the Democratic House took decisive action to end the gun violence epidemic in America by passing bipartisan, commonsense legislation to expand background checks, which is supported by more than 90 percent of the American people." (end) si.gta