Only four Republicans crossed the aisle in favor of the bipartisan proposal. Gun bill hits brick wall in Senate

A visibly angry President Barack Obama blasted the Senate’s rejection of a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks on gun sales, a vote that essentially ends any hope for major gun control legislation for the time being.

“This was a pretty shameful day for Washington, but this effort is not over,” Obama said in the Rose Garden.


The vote was 54-46, with only four Republicans crossing the aisle and voting with the Democrats in favor of the bipartisan proposal by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Sixty votes were needed.

( FULL TRANSCRIPT: Obama reacts to gun bill's failure)

Several red-state Democrats up for reelection in 2014, including Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, voted against it, costing Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) key support.

Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), elected to the Senate in November, also voted against the measure.

Reid switched his vote to “no” at the last minute, allowing him under Senate rules to bring up the measure again.

( Also on POLITICO: Democratic governors push for Senate’s gun bill)

A wheelchair-bound Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), missing from Capitol Hill for weeks with serious health problems, made an appearance to vote for Manchin-Toomey, adding to the drama of the moment. His colleagues clapped when he appeared on the floor.

Like Obama, Reid and other top Senate Democrats vowed to bring up the proposal again and again until it passes.

“I want everyone to understand — this is just the beginning. This is not the end,” Reid said.

Reid laid into Republicans for their opposition to the background checks proposal.

( Also on POLITICO: Senate gun control roll call vote: Senators who bucked their party)

“The simple fact is that the overwhelming number of Senate Republicans — and that is a gross understatement — are ignoring the voices of 90 percent of the American people,” Reid said. “Today, the brand of the Republican Party has become more out of step, more extreme, and that says a lot.”

Following a round of other gun-related votes on GOP and Democratic amendments, none of which passed, Reid moved to set the underlying gun bill aside and return the Senate to consideration of other issues.

But it was the Manchin-Toomey proposal that became the subject of an intense, often highly emotional lobbying campaign by forces pro and con.

Families of those who were killed in mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., and Virginia Tech lobbied lawmakers in both parties and were present in the Senate gallery.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama laments 'shameful day')

Gun control supporters in the gallery and the hallway surrounding the chamber — some wearing ribbons and buttons with pictures of loved ones killed in shootings — wept when the results of the Manchin-Toomey vote were announced. From their euphoria last week — when Toomey and 15 other Republicans voted with Democrats to allow the gun debate to begin — to Wednesday’s reality that the bill was defeated proved too much for them.

One woman, Patricia Maisch — who jumped on Jared Lee Loughner when he shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and killed six other people in Tucson in Jan. 2011 — yelled “shame on you!” from the gallery.

Roxanna Green, whose 9-year-old daughter, Christina Taylor Green, was killed in Tuscon, seemed stunned.

“I’m very disappointed. It should just be common sense. We’ll all be back; we’re going to keep fighting,” Green said.

Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, who pushed for the bill, vowed to continue fighting. “Gabby has always said this would be a long, hard haul. Our work does not end today,” they said in a statement.

“We will use every means possible to make sure the constituents of these senators know that their elected representatives ignored them.”

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, as well as other top White House officials, had lobbied senators in the days leading up to the vote.

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough visited Heitkamp on Tuesday to get her to support the bill, according to Democratic sources. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew called Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), while Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — a Republican — made a pitch to Nebraska GOP Sen. Mike Johanns.

Despite the visit by McDonough, Heitkamp voted no.

Toomey issued a statement declaring that he may be done with the issue.

“I sought out a compromise position that I thought could move the ball forward on an important matter of public safety,” Toomey said. “My only regret is that our amendment did not pass. It’s not the outcome I hoped for, but the Senate has spoken on the subject, and it’s time to move on.”

The National Rifle Association vehemently opposed the Manchin-Toomey bill and it threatened to work to defeat any senator who supported it.

“Today, the misguided Manchin-Toomey-Schumer proposal failed in the U.S. Senate,” said Chris Cox, a top NRA official, in a statement following the vote. “This amendment would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution. As we have noted previously, expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools.”

But gun control groups were outraged and vowed to keep pressing the issue until Congress takes action.

“This is an insult to the 90 people killed by gun violence every day and the 90 percent of Americans who believe that felons, domestic abusers and the dangerous mentally ill should not be able to buy guns without a background check, no questions asked,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “It is unfathomable that a senator could sit across the table from a Newtown parent who lost a child, and then days later vote against this amendment. We will not give up in this fight and we should not lose sight of the progress we have made.”

Yet the looming failure of the Manchin-Toomey proposal was clear early in the week, and in the hours leading up to the vote, Manchin and other Democrats publicly and privately admitted they would lose.

Two key senators — Heitkamp and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) — announced they would oppose the Manchin-Toomey deal on Wednesday morning. Many of their fence-sitting colleagues followed once it was clear the bill would fail.

“This conversation should be about what is in people’s minds, not about what is in their hands,” Heitkamp said in a statement. “… in its current form, I do not see a path for my support. I’ve thought long and hard about this, I’ve taken the tough meetings, and I’ve heard overwhelmingly from the people of North Dakota; and at the end of the day my duty is to listen to and represent the people of North Dakota.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took to the floor to voice his support for the amendment and praise Manchin and Toomey for “doing the right thing.”

“You may not win today I say to my two colleagues, but I will say you did the right thing,” McCain said. “You did the right thing, and it’s been my experience as a senator in this body for some years who has not always done the right thing, that doing the right thing is always a reward in itself.”

Seemingly criticizing those who are opposing the legislation, McCain said other senators should look to Manchin and Toomey.

“I think they’re an example to all of us,” McCain said.

Ginger Gibson and Kate Nocera contributed to this report.