Senate Democrats To Force Debate On Gun Violence Research Funding

Senate Democrats To Force Debate On Gun Violence Research Funding

by Laura Barron-Lopez at the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ed-markey-gun-violence-research-funding_us_56a133bbe4b0404eb8f0ae61?utm_hp_ref=politics

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WASHINGTON -- Despite a shortened calendar year, and the 2016 presidential election looming large over Congress, Senate Democrats plan to pressure Republicans into a debate over a 20-year-old ban on using federal funds to research gun violence.

A 1996 appropriations bill included a provision declaring taxpayer dollars could not be used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “to advocate or promote gun control,” effectively putting a freeze on research. In 2013, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum reversing the ban, and directed the CDC to begin researching the causes and effects of gun violence -- but lawmakers have yet to approve funding for it.

On Thursday, a handful of Senate Democrats, joined by three gun violence researchers from universities across the country, raised the issue again. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called on Congress to pass legislation that would authorize $10 million annually, for six years, in the CDC’s budget for such research.

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Earlier this month, Markey, joined by 17 other Democrats, urged Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) to hold a hearing on the effectiveness of gun violence research. Markey told reporters on Thursday that he has not received a response from Cochran, or Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who chairs the relevant subcommittee under appropriations.



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