Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.Ky., said Monday that Senate Republicans were "prepared to do our part" in response to President Donald Trump's call for bipartisan legislation to strengthen the nation's gun laws after the weekend shooting attacks that killed 31 people.
"Senate Republicans are prepared to do our part," McConnell said in a statement. "Only serious, bipartisan, bicameral efforts will enable us to continue this important work and produce further legislation that can pass the Senate, pass the House, and earn the president’s signature."
In comments from the White House, President Trump called on Congress to work together to develop legislation to toughen gun laws and create "strong background checks" for gun users.
Shooting attacks within 24 hours over the weekend, killed 31 people and injured many others in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
"In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy," Trump said. He said he had directed the FBI to examine steps to identify and address domestic terrorism.
"These sinister ideologies must be defeated," the president said. "Hate has no place in America."
In his statement, McConnell, said he talked with three key committee chairmen, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, N.C.; Roger Wicker, Miss., and Lamar Alexander, Tenn., after President Trump's remarks.
"I asked them to reflect on the subjects the president raised within their jurisdictions and encouraged them to engage in bipartisan discussions of potential solutions to help protect our communities without infringing on Americans’ constitutional rights," McConnell said.
The majority leader, 77, who fractured his shoulder in a fall Sunday at his Louisville home, said that "serious, bipartisan work" resulted in last year's successful passage of the Fix NICS Act to reform gun background checks and the STOP School Violence Act.
"Only serious, bipartisan, bicameral efforts will enable us to continue this important work and produce further legislation that can pass the Senate, pass the House, and earn the president’s signature," McConnell said.
"Partisan theatrics and campaign-trail rhetoric will only take us farther away from the progress all Americans deserve."
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