Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/613275
ByAlanFram TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON Democrats took to the floors of the Sen- ate and House on Tuesday to draw attention to their drive to prevent suspected violent extremists from ob- taining guns, an issue they believe has gained potency from last week's shooting massacre in California. Facing certain defeat, Democrats in both cham- bers unsuccessfully tried forcing votes on legisla- tion that would let the gov- ernment prohibit firearms sales to people suspected of terror acts. Debate, livid at times, came days after a Muslim couple who federal authorities say adopted ex- tremist views killed 14 peo- ple last week in San Ber- nardino, California. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D- N.Y., called it "absolute in- sanity" that suspected vio- lent extremists are not al- ready among the categories of people barred from pur- chasing firearms from gun dealers. Without naming them, he blamed the gap on the National Rifle Asso- ciation, which for years has used an alliance with gun- rights lawmakers, mostly Republicans, to block gun control legislation in Con- gress. "We can't let a small group, an influential, pow- erful lobbying group, make Americans less safe," Schumer said. No. 2 Senate Republican leader John Cornyn blocked debate on the legislation, which is sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a longtime advocate of gun curbs. He offered his own plan giving the government 72 hours to delay gun sales to those suspected of terror acts and persuade a judge to block that sale, and let- ting the government imme- diately arrest the suspect. Democrats blocked that. Cornyn said Democrats were trying to "capitalize" on last week's California shootings "to justify this unconstitutional attempt to deny American citizens their core constitutional rights," such as gun own- ership. The Senate last week re- jected Feinstein's proposal and a Cornyn proposal sim- ilar to Tuesday's. Republicans have reacted to the San Bernardino kill- ings by emphasizing na- tional security, pushing legislation stiffening re- strictions on refugees and travel to the U.S. In the House, Democrats led by Rep. Mike Thomp- son, D-Calif., a leading gun control advocate, forced a series of procedural votes to protest GOP leaders' refusal to allow debate on legisla- tion by Rep. Peter King, R- N.Y., that is similar to Fein- stein's. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., drew boos and catcalls from Democrats when he railed against the "fool's errand" of their push for a gun con- trol vote. "They have no idea what it takes to get on the no- fly list," Perry said. He said that list is maintained by "the same administration that persecutes its citi- zens" with the Internal Revenue Service, a refer- ence to the 2013 outcry over that agency's intense scrutiny of some conserva- tive groups seeking tax ex- emptions. "We're just asking for terrorists not to be able to walk into a gun shop and buy a gun," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. Thompson is circulating a petition he hopes would force debate on King's gun measure. That petition ef- fort is likely to fail. SAN BERNARDINO MASSACRE Hill Democrats seek spotlight to curb terror suspects' guns J.SCOTTAPPLEWHITE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., joined by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., le , and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., right, criticizes Republicans for not doing enough to stop gun violence, during a news conference on in Washington, on Tuesday. By Cain Burdeau The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS A judicial panel on Tuesday decided to consolidate hundreds of lawsuits against Volk- swagen over its emissions cheating scandal in Cali- fornia, a focal point of the carmaker's troubles. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation gave U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco oversight of more than 450 suits filed against the carmaker across the na- tion. The panel met last week in New Orleans to hear from numerous lawyers who were seeking to get the suits consolidated in a particular federal district. Volkswagen and the fed- eral government asked the panel to centralize the suits in Michigan. Instead, the panel said it makes more sense to turn California into the center of the legal wrangling, in part because there are so many VW owners and deal- ers there. Lawyers for VW and the Justice Department did not immediately return mes- sages seeking comment. VW has admitted that 482,000 2-liter diesel vehi- cles in the U.S. contained software that turned pollu- tion controls on during gov- ernment tests and off dur- ing real-world driving. The government says another 85,000 6-cylinder diesels also had cheating software. VW says the software in the 6-cylinder diesels is different and is legal in Eu- rope, but it has halted sales of those vehicles in the U.S. while it explains its case to the government. In Tuesday's ruling, the panel said no party in the litigation opposed central- ization. In choosing California, the panel said the state is where the "most affected ve- hicles and dealers" are lo- cated. The ruling also noted that the California Air Re- sources Board "played an important initial role in in- vestigating and, ultimately, revealing VW's use of the defeat devices." The panel also noted that the first federal suit against VW was filed in California; altogether, 101 cases have been filed there. The panel said Breyer is "thoroughly familiar with the nuances of complex, multidistrict litigation," having handled nine other such cases, including some involving international de- fendants. "We are confident that Judge Breyer will steer this controversy on a prudent and expeditious course," the panel ruled. The judicial panel's job is to determine whether lawsuits in different fed- eral districts should be amassed under one court to prevent duplication and inconsistent rulings and to make it easier for law- yers. The panel holds hear- ings in different locations around the nation. It hap- pened to be in New Or- leans last week when the VW cases came up. EMISSIONS SCANDAL La ws ui ts a ga ins t VW t o be consolidated in California ERIK SCHELZIG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A man walks through the employee parking lot at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Friday. Skilled-trades workers at the plant were voting on whether to be represented by the United Auto Workers for collective bargaining purposes. By Joan Lowy The Associated Press WASHINGTON The gov- ernment on Tuesday an- nounced plans to update its safety rating system for new cars to include whether the car has tech- nology to avoid crashes, in addition to how well it protects occupants in ac- cidents. The 5-star rating system now uses crash tests to as- sess how well people in- side are shielded from in- jury or death in front, side and rollover crashes. While that will remain a big factor in the ratings, they also will take into ac- count whether the vehicle has sensors that can detect an imminent frontal colli- sion and apply the brakes, or warn drivers about ve- hicles in their blind spots or that they're drifting into another lane. In addition, the crash tests will be improved to include accidents in which cars collide at an angle, and they will use improved crash-test dummies that better represent how ac- cidents impact the human body. And the rating sys- tem will reward cars de- signed to protect pedes- trians who are struck by them. "We're going to raise the bar when it comes to pro- tecting vehicle occupants," said Transportation Secre- tary Anthony Foxx. The rating system posts a rating of one to five stars on the window stickers of new cars to help shoppers identify the safest vehi- cles. The changes proposed for the system are subject to a 60-day public com- ment period, and final rules are to be issued next year. Consumers would begin seeing the new rat- ings on cars in model year 2019. 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