Guns, impeachment, Medicare for All emerge in U.S. Sen. Bob Casey town hall in Lehigh Valley

Morning Call (Allentown, PA)

Aug. 22--In the wake of recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said Wednesday at a town hall in the Lehigh Valley that he is hopeful gun legislation will be voted on this fall, but he believes more needs to be done.

The three-term senator from Pennsylvania said a bill on gun background checks could make it to the Senate floor for a vote in September or October, though he has concerns that the House version of universal background checks could be watered down in the Senate.

The Democratic lawmaker also heralded the progress being made on another bill, called the "red flag" law. The proposal, which is attracting some bipartisan support, would allow for family members or police to seek temporary court orders restricting someone's access to firearms if they are deemed to pose an imminent threat to themselves or others.

But Casey called on lawmakers to do more. He wants the Senate, which is controlled by the Republicans, to consider other bills: one that would limit the number of rounds in a magazine, another that would close a loophole that gives a gun to a person if the time for background check expires, and a third that would ban people from buying guns that are on the "no fly" list.

"There are a lot of Americans that believe we can act, that we can take action against gun violence to at least reduce the likelihood of another mass shooting ... even to substantially reduce the likelihood over time that we will have more mass shootings in addition to the daily violence, the killing that happens in our city ... one at a time or two at a time night after night after night," Casey said.

Casey's comments come the same week as President Donald Trump seemed to be softening his statements that he would look at "very meaningful background checks." He told reporters this week that the United States already has "very, very strong background" checks for guns and called for the need to focus on mental health issues, according to published reports.

Pennsylvania's junior senator, Republican Pat Toomey, has revived his proposal to strengthen gun background checks -- not one as broad as Casey is advocating for -- and has called for consideration of a federal red flag law.

Casey made his comments on gun laws before an audience of nearly 100 people a town hall-style meeting at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem Township.

The audience members, two of whom wore red Moms Demand Action T-shirts, appeared mostly friendly to Casey as he promised to fight for policies that would combat climate change, protect Medicare and Medicaid and promote public infrastructure projects.

Casey showed the audience his marked-up copy of the Mueller report, reading specific passages that he found damaging to Trump. Casey said, after reading the specifics, he could understand why his Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives would favor impeaching the president, but stopped short of weighing in on what the House should do. The House decides whether to impeach, and the Senate decides whether to remove a president from office.

On a question about whether he supports "Medicare for All" proposal, Casey said he supports universal coverage but mapped a different path to get there. He highlighted bills such as allowing people 50 years old the opportunity to buy into Medicare, making Medicaid an option on the health care exchange and automatically enrolling every newborn into the Medicaid program unless a parent opts out.

"We should have as a goal that every single American has health coverage, not just access to care but coverage," Casey said.

He urged the crowd to continue exerting public pressure on those issues and vote in the upcoming presidential election.

The Lehigh Valley is a pivotal one in Pennsylvania, a swing state that could be a prize during the election next year. It's part of a congressional district that went from red to blue last congressional election, and Northampton County voted for Republican Trump for president after supporting Democrat Barack Obama.

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