Latest news with #AndrewClyde
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Trump blasts 'ridiculous' holdout Republicans as clock ticks on July 4 deadline for Big Beautiful Bill
President Donald Trump was left infuriated as the day began on Thursday and five Republican congressmen refused to advance his One Big Beautiful Bill. The massive spending bill narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday, and House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson worked throughout the night on Wednesday to convert members of his party who opposed the measure. His goal was to get the landmark legislation passed and on Trump's desk before the Independence Day holiday on Friday. But five Republicans have held up the measure to simply advance the bill. They include Rep. Andrew Clyde, of Georgia; Rep. Victoria Spartz, of Indiana; Rep. Keith Self, of Texas; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, of Pennsylvania; and Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky. As the bill remained stalled, President Trump took to his Truth Social page to hit out at the 'ridiculous' holdouts. He declared that 'THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE' for Republicans. In another post he asked what the five Republicans who voted against advancing the bill were 'waiting for' and what they were 'trying to prove.' In another post he asked what the five Republicans who voted against advancing the bill were 'waiting for' and what they were 'trying to prove' 'MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT'S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!' he warned the holdouts as he touted the provisions of his massive spending bill. He claimed it would bring the 'largest tax cuts in history and a booming economy' and that the alternative is the 'biggest tax increase in history and a failed economy.' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also hit out at the Republicans who voted 'no' on advancing the Big Beautiful Bill. 'Anyone who votes AGAINST the One Big Beautiful Bill is voting AGAINST: No Tax on Tips No Tax on Overtime No Tax on Social Security,' she wrote on social media. But the Republicans who voted against the measure have disagreed, with members of the House Freedom Caucus expressing concerns about the bill's increased spending levels, provisions allowing government benefits for some illegal immigrants and funding for Biden-era renewable energy policies. They seemed to have been bolstered by Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who signaled he would stand by their efforts 'to add 'real savings' to Big Not So Beautiful Bill.' He also wrote on social media that he assured his colleagues in the House 'that I can vote to allow a larger increase in debt ceiling if House attaches immediate REAL spending cuts.' Trump had tried to smooth the matter over with some House Republicans ahead of the vote on Wednesday, hosting groups of lawmakers at the White House so that he could convince them to support his policy package. The president specifically met with some moderate Republicans and some far-right conservatives and was able to get some to commit to backing his bill. With that in mind, Trump seemed hopeful about the bill advancing. He wrote on his Truth Social page Wednesday that he 'had GREAT conversations all day, and the Republican House Majority is UNITED, for the Good of our Country, delivering the Biggest Tax Cuts in History and MASSIVE Growth. 'Let's go Republicans, and everyone else - MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,' the president wrote at the time. But Trump and House Speaker Johnson's efforts apparently hit a snag when the House Freedom Caucus began circulating a three-page memo highlighting their gripes with the Senate version of the bill. In effect, the memo was a laundry list of complaints about how the Senate watered down the House's more conservative bill.
Fox News
27-06-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Second Amendment 'setback': Gun tax cuts stripped from Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
A provision inside President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" that would have lessened regulations on certain firearms was one of many stripped policies that did not pass muster with Senate rules. The Senate parliamentarian ruled late Thursday night that policy changes that would delist short-barrel rifles, shotguns and suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA) would have to be scrubbed from the Senate Finance Committee's portion of the mammoth bill. The provision would have allowed for those particular guns and accessories to no longer be subject to a $200 federal tax. They would also no longer have needed to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Changes to the NFA were part of the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act, a bill pushed by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., in the upper chamber, and Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., in the House. "This is a setback, but we are committed to working with the parliamentarian to protect the Second Amendment in any way we can through reconciliation," Marshall told Fox News Digital in a statement. "'Shall not be infringed' is crystal clear and the rights of gun owners must be respected." Indeed, lawmakers do have the opportunity to rewrite the provision to comport with the Byrd Rule, which governs the budget reconciliation process and allows either party in power to skirt the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate. Clyde told Fox News Digital in a statement that he disagreed with the ruling, "as the taxation and registration of firearms under the draconian NFA are inextricably linked." "I'm working with my Senate Republican colleagues to rewrite the language so we can retain our 2A wins and deliver the best possible outcome for the American people," he said. "We must seize this rare opportunity to restore our Second Amendment rights." Arguments before the parliamentarian, who many Republicans lashed out at on Thursday following rulings that stripped key, yet divisive, Medicaid tweaks from the "big, beautiful bill," are expected to continue throughout Friday and likely until the last few minutes before the final bill is revealed. The gun provision was one of many tax-related items stripped from the package. Others included subsidies for private schools and carve-outs for religious colleges from the endowments tax, among others. There are other provisions still under consideration, including "Trump Accounts," which would have set aside $1,000 in taxpayer money for newborns, requiring Social Securities numbers for a slew of tax credits, and making tax benefits for those who invest in opportunity zones permanent.
Los Angeles Times
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Letters to the Editor: With silencer regulations, public safety needs to come before the gun industry
To the editor: Oh, please. Republican legislators are whining about the accessibility of firearm silencers under the guise of hearing protection ('GOP tax bill would ease regulations on gun silencers and some rifles and shotguns,' June 23). Rather than using personal ear protection when shooting, they would prefer more silencers in our communities, thereby putting their fellow citizens at risk of being injured or killed during a shooting because they didn't hear gunfire or were unable to discern the direction from which it was coming. It is galling that Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, the owner of two gun stores, is shilling for the gun industry to reduce silencer regulation. Making silencers more accessible would increase sales and line his pockets. Legislators should concern themselves with public safety rather than doing the bidding of the gun industry. Firearms are the leading cause of death of American children and teens. Can't Republicans think of anything productive they might do to help solve that problem? Loren Lieb, Northridge .. To the editor: So Republicans in Congress want potential mass shooters, school shooters and presidential assassins to have ready access to silencers and sawed-off shotguns without being subject to a background check or paying a tax. Tell me this: How is a good guy with a gun supposed to stop a bad guy with a gun if he doesn't know where the shots are coming from? If only Senate Republicans had thought to pass similar legislation back in 2022 before 19 elementary school kids and two teachers were slaughtered in Uvalde, Texas. Instead of being ridiculed for failing to immediately confront the 18-year-old school shooter, the Uvalde police and Texas Rangers could have said, 'Well, we didn't go in because we didn't know the whereabouts of the shooter.' Patricia Holloway, San Clemente
Los Angeles Times
23-06-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
GOP tax bill would ease regulations on gun silencers and some rifles and shotguns
WASHINGTON — The massive tax and spending cuts package that President Trump wants on his desk by July 4 would loosen regulations on gun silencers and certain types of rifles and shotguns, advancing a longtime priority of the gun industry as Republican leaders in the House and Senate try to win enough votes to pass the bill. The guns provision was first requested in the House by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican gun store owner who had initially opposed the larger tax package. The House bill would remove silencers — called 'suppressors' by the gun industry — from a 1930s law that regulates firearms that are considered the most dangerous, eliminating a $200 tax while removing a layer of background checks. The Senate kept the provision on silencers in its version of the bill and expanded upon it, adding short-barreled, or sawed-off, rifles and shotguns. Republicans who have long supported the changes, along with the gun industry, say the tax infringes on Second Amendment rights. They say silencers are mostly used by hunters and target shooters for sport. 'Burdensome regulations and unconstitutional taxes shouldn't stand in the way of protecting American gun owners' hearing,' said Clyde, who owns two gun stores in Georgia and often wears a pin shaped like an assault rifle on his suit lapel. Democrats are fighting to stop the provision, which was unveiled days after two Minnesota state legislators were shot in their homes, as the bill speeds through the Senate. They argue that loosening regulations on silencers could make it easier for criminals and active shooters to conceal their weapons. 'Parents don't want silencers on their streets, police don't want silencers on their streets,' said Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. The gun language has broad support among Republicans and has received little attention as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., work to settle differences within the party on cuts to Medicaid and energy tax credits, among other issues. But it is just one of hundreds of policy and spending items included to entice members to vote for the legislation that could have broad implications if the bill is enacted within weeks, as Trump wants. Inclusion of the provision is also a sharp turn from the climate in Washington just three years ago when Democrats, like Republicans now, controlled Congress and the White House and pushed through bipartisan gun legislation. The bill increased background checks for some buyers under the age of 21, made it easier to take firearms from potentially dangerous people and sent millions of dollars to mental health services in schools. Passed in the summer of 2022, just weeks after the shooting of 19 children and two adults at a school in Uvalde, Texas, it was the most significant legislative response to gun violence in decades. Three years later, as they try to take advantage of their consolidated power in Washington, Republicans are packing as many of their longtime priorities as possible, including the gun legislation, into the massive, wide-ranging bill that Trump has called 'beautiful.' 'I'm glad the Senate is joining the House to stand up for the Second Amendment and our Constitution, and I will continue to fight for these priorities as the Senate works to pass President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill,' said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who was one of the lead negotiators on the bipartisan gun bill in 2022 but is now facing a primary challenge from the right in his bid for reelection next year. If the gun provisions remain in the larger legislation and it is passed, silencers and the short-barrel rifles and shotguns would lose an extra layer of regulation that they are subject to under the National Firearms Act, passed in the 1930s in response to concerns about mafia violence. They would still be subject to the same regulations that apply to most other guns — and that includes possible loopholes that allow some gun buyers to avoid background checks when guns are sold privately or online. Larry Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, who supports the legislation, says changes are aimed at helping target shooters and hunters protect their hearing. He argues that the use of silencers in violent crimes is rare. 'All it's ever intended to do is to reduce the report of the firearm to hearing safe levels,' Keane says. Speaking on the floor before the bill passed the House, Rep. Clyde said the bill restores Second Amendment rights from 'over 90 years of draconian taxes.' Clyde said Johnson included his legislation in the larger bill 'with the purest of motive.' 'Who asked for it? I asked,' said Clyde, who ultimately voted for the bill after the gun silencer provision was added. Clyde was responding to Rep. Maxwell Frost, a 28-year-old Florida Democrat, who went to the floor and demanded to know who was responsible for the gun provision. Frost, who was a gun-control activist before being elected to Congress, called himself a member of the 'mass shooting generation' and said the bill would help 'gun manufacturers make more money off the death of children and our people.' Among other concerns, control advocates say less regulation for silencers could make it harder for law enforcement to stop an active shooter. 'There's a reason silencers have been regulated for nearly a century: They make it much harder for law enforcement and bystanders to react quickly to gunshots,' said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. Schumer and other Democrats are trying to convince the Senate parliamentarian to drop the language as she reviews the bill for policy provisions that aren't budget-related. 'Senate Democrats will fight this provision at the parliamentary level and every other level with everything we've got,' Schumer said earlier this month. Jalonick writes for the Associated Press.
Chicago Tribune
23-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
GOP tax bill would ease regulations on gun silencers and some rifles and shotguns
WASHINGTON — The massive tax and spending cuts package that President Donald Trump wants on his desk by July 4 would loosen regulations on gun silencers and certain types of rifles and shotguns, advancing a longtime priority of the gun industry as Republican leaders in the House and Senate try to win enough votes to pass the bill. The guns provision was first requested in the House by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican gun store owner who had initially opposed the larger tax package. The House bill would remove silencers — called 'suppressors' by the gun industry — from a 1930s law that regulates firearms that are considered the most dangerous, eliminating a $200 tax while removing a layer of background checks. The Senate kept the provision on silencers in its version of the bill and expanded upon it, adding short-barreled, or sawed-off, rifles and shotguns. Republicans who have long supported the changes, along with the gun industry, say the tax infringes on Second Amendment rights. They say silencers are mostly used by hunters and target shooters for sport. 'Burdensome regulations and unconstitutional taxes shouldn't stand in the way of protecting American gun owners' hearing,' said Clyde, who owns two gun stores in Georgia and often wears a pin shaped like an assault rifle on his suit lapel. Democrats are fighting to stop the provision, which was unveiled days after two Minnesota state legislators were shot in their homes, as the bill speeds through the Senate. They argue that loosening regulations on silencers could make it easier for criminals and active shooters to conceal their weapons. 'Parents don't want silencers on their streets, police don't want silencers on their streets,' said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The gun language has broad support among Republicans and has received little attention as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., work to settle differences within the party on cuts to Medicaid and energy tax credits, among other issues. But it is just one of hundreds of policy and spending items included to entice members to vote for the legislation that could have broad implications if the bill is enacted within weeks, as Trump wants. Inclusion of the provision is also a sharp turn from the climate in Washington just three years ago when Democrats, like Republicans now, controlled Congress and the White House and pushed through bipartisan gun legislation. The bill increased background checks for some buyers under the age of 21, made it easier to take firearms from potentially dangerous people and sent millions of dollars to mental health services in schools. Passed in the summer of 2022, just weeks after the shooting of 19 children and two adults at a school in Uvalde, Texas, it was the most significant legislative response to gun violence in decades. Three years later, as they try to take advantage of their consolidated power in Washington, Republicans are packing as many of their longtime priorities as possible, including the gun legislation, into the massive, wide-ranging bill that Trump has called 'beautiful.' 'I'm glad the Senate is joining the House to stand up for the Second Amendment and our Constitution, and I will continue to fight for these priorities as the Senate works to pass President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill,' said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who was one of the lead negotiators on the bipartisan gun bill in 2022 but is now facing a primary challenge from the right in his bid for reelection next year. If the gun provisions remain in the larger legislation and it is passed, silencers and the short-barrel rifles and shotguns would lose an extra layer of regulation that they are subject to under the National Firearms Act, passed in the 1930s in response to concerns about mafia violence. They would still be subject to the same regulations that apply to most other guns — and that includes possible loopholes that allow some gun buyers to avoid background checks when guns are sold privately or online. Larry Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, who supports the legislation, says changes are aimed at helping target shooters and hunters protect their hearing. He argues that the use of silencers in violent crimes is rare. 'All it's ever intended to do is to reduce the report of the firearm to hearing safe levels,' Keane says. Speaking on the floor before the bill passed the House, Rep. Clyde said the bill restores Second Amendment rights from 'over 90 years of draconian taxes.' Clyde said Johnson included his legislation in the larger bill 'with the purest of motive.' 'Who asked for it? I asked,' said Clyde, who ultimately voted for the bill after the gun silencer provision was added. Clyde was responding to Rep. Maxwell Frost, a 28-year-old Florida Democrat, who went to the floor and demanded to know who was responsible for the gun provision. Frost, who was a gun-control activist before being elected to Congress, called himself a member of the 'mass shooting generation' and said the bill would help 'gun manufacturers make more money off the death of children and our people.' Among other concerns, control advocates say less regulation for silencers could make it harder for law enforcement to stop an active shooter. 'There's a reason silencers have been regulated for nearly a century: They make it much harder for law enforcement and bystanders to react quickly to gunshots,' said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. Schumer and other Democrats are trying to convince the Senate parliamentarian to drop the language as she reviews the bill for policy provisions that aren't budget-related. 'Senate Democrats will fight this provision at the parliamentary level and every other level with everything we've got,' Schumer said earlier this month.
