Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas talks to reporters June 16 outside his office about negotiations in gun-related measures. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Senate strikes deal to vote on doomed gun proposals The agreement between Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid locks in votes on Monday.

After a marathon Democratic filibuster and pitched negotiations on gun control measures, senators are finally nearing a Senate floor showdown on firearms policy — but only to hold votes that are highly likely to fail.

On Thursday morning, the Senate Republican Conference held a special caucus meeting on what amendments they would put forward to match a background checks proposal from Democrats, senators said. By the end of the day, senators had locked in an agreement to vote Monday on four competing gun-related measures.


Earlier Thursday, Republicans had coalesced behind presenting a side-by-side alternative to Democrats’ bill to ban suspected terrorists from buying guns, but there was some division in the room about what other amendments the GOP should put forward to compete with a universal background checks proposal that has repeatedly failed, attendees said.

Ultimately, Republicans scheduled a vote on an amendment sponsored by Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ted Cruz of Texas that would add mental health considerations to firearms background checks. The measure also boosts funding for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The proposal from Grassley and Cruz will get a vote alongside background checks legislation from Democrats, which is sponsored by Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Chuck Schumer of New York. The other two votes will be dueling proposals on barring suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms — one from Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn and the other from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Cornyn and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) had presented competing proposals inside the special meeting, Republicans said. Toomey is seeking to strike a bipartisan deal but there is more enthusiasm for Cornyn's proposal, which has been blessed by the NRA.

Toomey "presented it for the first time this morning and people are intrigued. He'll be entitled to get a vote on his if he wants it but the question is how long do we want to keep talking about gun control and when are we going to pivot to the national security debate," Cornyn, the majority whip, said in an interview.

Three of the four are essentially revotes from last year, when universal background checks and two anti-terrorism firearms bills both were defeated.

“Republicans must join us for those measures to pass. But that won’t happen if the Republicans continue to take their orders — and I mean orders — from the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.

Indeed, Feinstein (D-Calif.) will offer an amendment that would bar suspected terrorists from buying guns, allowing the Justice Department to arbitrate disputes when people mistakenly end up on the terrorist watch list. The Justice Department gave an endorsement to Feinstein's bill, which has been tweaked to allow gun sales to go through when blocking a sale could blow up a major terrorism investigations.

"The amendment gives the Justice Department an important additional tool to prevent the sale of guns to suspected terrorists by licensed firearms dealers while ensuring protection of the department’s operational and investigative sensitivities. We also continue to support universal background checks as a necessary tool to prevent suspected terrorists from lawfully obtaining firearms," said Justice spokeswoman Dena Iverson.

Cornyn has a similar bill, that contains more protections for gun owners in Republicans’ view. He has also revised his bill so it covers people who have been under terror investigations within the last five years, according to an aide, which would have covered Omar Mateen, the shooter in the Orlando massacre who was probed by the FBI in 2013 and 2014.

Both failed in December and are likely to fail again, senators and aides said. Universal background checks also stand no chance of passing the Senate. Conversations between Cornyn and Feinstein on a middle ground broke down on Wednesday after the NRA endorsed Cornyn's bill, and Democrats loathe the bill written by Toomey that he developed while speaking to Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun-control group led by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), along with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), are working on a separate proposal that would add new safeguards to prevent terrorists from buying weapons and are searching for Democratic cosponsors. Any vote on that would occur after the Monday votes because the proposal is not yet finished.

Democrats cast their nearly 15-hour filibuster on Wednesday and into Thursday morning as a victory because they believe they have secured votes on their priorities in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of 49 people in Orlando.

But the filibuster, led by Murphy, drew a harsh rebuke from McConnell, who slammed Senate Democrats for commandeering the chamber Wednesday to use it as a “campaign studio” to advance their gun-control agenda. McConnell also criticized the handful of Democratic senators who chose to stay on the floor rather than attend a classified briefing led by FBI director James Comey and other Obama administration officials.

“A rather significant group of Senate Democrats skipped … the briefing altogether for a campaign talk-a-thon out here on the Senate floor, which also prevented us from going forward on the bill, offering amendments and votes,” McConnell said Thursday morning. “It’s hard to think of a clearer contrast for serious work for solutions on the one hand, and endless partisan campaign on the other.”

Democrats expect a large group of Republican incumbents to vote against both the background checks and Feinstein’s anti-terror proposal and will almost surely use it against the GOP in the general election.

Murphy noted that Feinstein's gun legislation — and the broader firearms debate — "now exists in a post-Orlando world" and said Democrats and advocacy groups will be out in full force to push Republicans on the measures.

"It's going to be a question for Republicans, especially those that are up for reelection this fall as to whether they want to stand with Donald Trump and the NRA or stand up with 90 percent of the American public," Murphy said. "There’s going to be a fury of advocacy that comes into Republican members’ offices that will dwarf that of the NRA."