Setting gridlock aside, Congress set to OK gun violence bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is on the verge of approving a $13 billion bipartisan gun violence bill that seemed unimaginable a month ago. House approval is expected Friday (June 24, 2022) on legislation that would be lawmakers’ most sweeping answer in decades to mass shootings that have come to shock yet not surprise Americans. The Senate approved the measure Thursday, with 15 Republicans joining Democrats in backing passage. The election year vote comes just weeks after a gunman massacred 19 elementary school students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, and a white man motivated by racism allegedly killed 10 Black grocery shoppers in Buffalo, New York. Lawmakers say the public outcry for action could not be ignored.