The publication of the text of the bill comes after days when lawmakers haggled over various points of contention, raising questions about whether it would ever end or whether the effort would be undone. Now lawmakers will have to run the clock before the Senate comes out of the July quarter recess to try to get the bill passed by the House.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday night that he would act swiftly to introduce the bill “with an initial procedural vote as early as tonight.” He added that “after that, we will move on to the final step as soon as possible.”
The Senate is now expected to vote as early as 7:30 pm ET Tuesday on a procedural motion to start the debate on the legislation.
The bill, entitled Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, was passed by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The legitimacy of the Senate’s commitment to gun safety includes millions of dollars in investments in mental health, school security, crisis response programs, and incentives for states to include youth records in the national system of instant criminal background checks. .
It comes after the publication earlier this month of an agreement in principle for an agreement on bipartisan arms legislation, which was mostly supported by 10 Republican senators. At least 10 Republican senators will have to unite with Democrats to support any weapons bill to overcome obstructionism and pass the Senate.
It is unclear to what extent the GOP will support the measure now that the legislative text has been finalized, but as a key indicator of GOP leadership support, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say Tuesday evening that he supported the bill.
“So I support the text of the bill that Senator Cornyn and our colleagues have produced,” McConnell said in a statement.
This story has been updated with additional news on Tuesday.