Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) "an absolute fraud" during remarks on the Senate floor addressing the Texas elementary school shooting that killed 19 kids and two adults.
Driving the news: After Beto O'Rourke confronted Abbott during a press conference on Wednesday over his support of gun rights, Schumer said the governor "asked people to put their agendas aside and think about someone other than themselves. My God, how dare he? What an absolute fraud the governor of Texas is."
- "And this is the same Gov. Abbott who tomorrow ... will go speak at the [National Rifle Association] convention in Houston. Gov. Abbott, will you ask your MAGA buddies and NRA pals to put aside their agendas and think of someone other than themselves like you asked the families to do? ... Of course not," Schumer added.
- "Gov. Abbott is more likely to outline some new plan to further loosen gun restrictions. No amount of bloodshed seems to be enough for MAGA Republicans."
The big picture: Schumer delivered remarks ahead of a Senate vote on a piece of legislation, the Domestic Terrorism Protection Act, aimed at combating violent extremism by white supremacists.
- He had scheduled the Senate vote before the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, took place. The bill is instead a response to the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10 people, which the FBI is investigating as a hate crime.
- The bill, which already passed the House, needs 60 votes in the Senate to be sent to President Biden.
