Profile in Courage: Schumer Blocks School Safety Bill as Senate Adjourns for Holiday Weekend

Days after the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Wednesday blocked a Republican-sponsored bill that would create a national clearinghouse for school safety, claiming without evidence the bill would bring “more guns in schools.”

Named after two victims of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, the Luke and Alex Safety Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to form a subagency that cooperates with education and law enforcement to collect data on school safety and provide recommendations. There is no mention of guns in the bill. Schumer on Thursday defended his decision to block the vote, adding that the shooter evaded officers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

“GOP Sen. Johnson just tried for a bill that could see more guns in schools—I blocked it,” Schumer tweeted. “The truth: There were officers at the school in Texas. The shooter got past them.”

A Texas police official on Thursday said the gunman who shot 19 children and two adults walked “unobstructed” into the elementary school, contradicting earlier reports that there had been a confrontation.

Schumer instead pushed for the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which would require DHS, the Department of Justice, and the FBI to “analyze and combat white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of the uniformed services and federal law enforcement agencies.” The bill failed to pass the Senate 47-47 on Thursday, receiving no Republican support.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), who introduced the school safety bill in 2021, said Schumer had lied about its contents.

​​”Not surprising that the Democrat leader would lie about the bill he blocked that parents of Parkland victims have been trying to pass for years,” Johnson said. “Dems aren’t looking for solutions, they want wedge issues that they hope will keep them in power. Sick.”

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