Manchin And Toomey: Background Checks Won't Pass Today's Vote In Senate

By Susan Duclos
Reports from Washington Post,  NBC and MediaIte and others,  state that Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) says the Manchin-Toomey background check portion of the Senate gun control bill does not have the votes to pass and will likely fail.
"We will not get the votes today," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told NBC News.
“As we sit here this morning, we don’t have the votes,” Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., a sponsor of the background check compromise, told the National Review on Wednesday. “Now, there are enough undecided people that it’s still possible, but I’ll be the first to admit that there is a very, very narrow path” to victory.
[...]
With the roll call just hours away, yet another Republican — Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire — declared she would vote against the background check measure. Her announcement, along with opposition from other Republicans and some moderate Democrats, left supporters heading toward defeat unless they could turn votes around in the final hours, a near impossible task. (Washington Post)
Hot Air points out that the GOP didn't just say "no" but have an amendment of their own which would "mental-health reporting in the existing background-check system, as well as authorizing better enforcement of it."
According to a t fact-sheet obtained by the Free Beacon,  The Republican plan would "reauthorize and improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, increase resources for prosecutions of gun crime, address mental illness in the criminal justice system, and strengthen criminal law by including straw purchasing and illegal firearm trafficking statutes."
Related:
Read The Senate Gun Control Bill S.649 - Embedded