On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked a school safety bill. Schumer’s move came after two mass shooting tragedies in New York and Texas spurred Sen. Ron Johnson to renew his push for the Luke and Alex School Safety Act to be passed by unanimous consent.
Fox News reports:
The bill, named after Parkland, Florida, shooting victims Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish a “Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices” for use by state and local educational and law-enforcement agencies, institutions of higher education, health professionals, and the public. And it would require DHS to “collect clearinghouse data analytics, user feedback on the implementation of best practices and recommendations identified by the clearinghouse, and any evaluations conducted on these best practices and recommendations.”
The clearinghouse is leady available at SchoolSafety.gov but would have been codified into law had Sen. Johnson been successful.
Sen. Schumer claimed on Twitter that the bill “could see more guns in schools.”
“The truth: There were officers at the school in Texas,” Schumer tweeted. “The shooter got past them. We need real solutions—We will vote on gun legislation starting with the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.”
On the Senate floor, Schumer said the legislation could be considered if Republicans agree to debate on the domestic terrorism bill. Johnson responded that it’s “a sad day for the United States Senate,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Johnson later tweeted: “Not surprising that the Democrat leader would lie about the bill he blocked that parents of Parkland victims have been trying to pass for years. Dems aren’t looking for solutions, they want wedge issues that they hope will keep them in power. Sick.”
The truth: Schumer blocked a bipartisan bill the makes the school safety clearinghouse https://t.co/rvfUl0d7sA permanent because radical left wing activists oppose it https://t.co/V0Lx9GwRx4
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 25, 2022
On Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act. The vote was 47-47.