Senate Judiciary Committee members voted along party lines on Thursday on President Joe Biden‘s nominee as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Eleven Democrats supported and 11 Republicans opposed moving the nomination of David Chipman for ATF director to the Senate floor.
With the Senate divided 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris casting tiebreaking votes, committee ties mean a nomination is not supposed to go further. However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has it in his power to advance the Chipman nomination to the Senate floor. It’s a maneuver used by Senate majority leaders of both parties in recent years when committee votes haven’t gone their party’s way.
GUN CONTROL ADVOCATE UP FOR ATF HEAD FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE
While Democrats are likely to send the nomination to the floor as swiftly as possible, Republicans are prepared to place a hold on the 20-year veteran of the ATF, who also advised gun control groups following his retirement from the agency in 2012.
Prior to the vote, GOP members of the committee referenced the spike in crime across the country in Democrat-led cities and accused Biden, Democrats, and Chipman of wanting to disarm law-abiding gun owners.
“I can’t vote for someone who says we ought to make schools in this country less safe in the midst of a crime epidemic. I don’t know what I would tell the parents in my state,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican. “And when I look at Mr. Chipman’s agenda, which is to take away Second Amendment rights from law-abiding citizens while violent criminals are loose on our streets.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, responded to Hawley, saying, “There is a lot of mischaracterization and misrepresentation of what David Chipman has done or said, but at the end of the day, it is his enforcement background that makes him eminently qualified.” He added, “They say continuously they want enforcement of existing laws, not new laws. Well, if they want effective enforcement, they ought to be in favor of David Chipman.”
A handful of Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have yet to voice their support for Chipman. Manchin told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday night that he is still talking with the ATF nominee and is “undecided” about whether he would vote to confirm him.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin accused Republicans of wanting to keep the job of ATF director vacant, telling the Washington Examiner, “It’s been consistently vacant because the gun lobby doesn’t want anybody to enforce the laws in ATF. So, there’s bound to be resistance from the Republican side.”
Other Democrats that have not spoken publicly about Chipman’s nomination are Sen. John Tester of Montana and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
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Sen. Susan Collins, a centrist Republican, however, announced on Monday she would not support Chipman’s nomination.
