Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is currently leading the charge by Senate Democrats in forcing the upper chamber to do something about gun violence in America. A little before noon today, he took to the Senate floor to filibuster a spending bill that would fund the Justice Department in order to bring the issue to the forefront. Democrats had planned on adding gun control amendments, but Murphy said that no logrolling would occur until we come together on at least preventing those on terrorist watch list from buying guns. He also said that he was at his wits end, and had “had enough” (via Politico):
I am prepared to stand on the Senate floor and talk about the need to prevent gun violence for as long as I can. I've had #Enough
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 15, 2016
“I’m going to remain on this floor until we get some signal, some sign that we can come together on these two measures, that we can get a path forward on addressing this epidemic in a meaningful, bipartisan way,” Murphy continued on the Senate floor on Wednesday, after he first started his filibuster at about 11:20 a.m.Murphy, a top gun-control advocate whose home state saw the massacre of 20 school children at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, launched the filibuster, and was immediately backed up by colleagues Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). More Senate Democrats are expected to join the talk-a-thon throughout the day and night on Wednesday.
Senate Democrats are refusing to give up the floor, which prevents any amendment votes on the spending bill currently being considered by the chamber that provides funding for the Justice Department and other related agencies. The tactics by Democrats are likely to preventing some senators from attending an all-senators briefing on the Orlando attacks at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Politico's Seung Min Kim added that this could be a very late night for the Senate.
Senate Dems are lining up for a late night on floor. Some senators are signing up for slots as late as 10:30 p.m. and beyond
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) June 15, 2016
You can watch it live here:
Updates to follow.
