Fate of Manchin-Toomey criminal background check proposal relies upon Trump, lawmaker says

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Monday the fate of a bipartisan bill to expand criminal record checks on gun sales that repeatedly didn’t undergo the Senate is in the hands of President Donald Trump.

Manchin expressed an openness to recover the proposal, which would expand firearm criminal background checks to include online sales and gun shows, but said the proposal would want backing within the White House to achieve traction in Congress.

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“We’re not about to bringing it back unless obama signs on,” Manchin said during the radio interview with West Virginia’s MetroNews. “I think it’s imperative he will have to jump in in what he feels he’s more comfortable with."

Manchin said he or she discussed the proposal in the last week with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), whom he co-sponsored the measure with in 2013, and so they hoped to have it up together with the president immediately.

“We’ll have a chance to dicuss. He needs to talk," Manchin said of Trump. Free airline Virginia senator called their proposal “the most vetted bill that was out there” on criminal record searches.

After a gunman used an AR-15-style rifle to kill 17 students and staffers and injure numerous others on a Parkland, Florida, school this month, Trump expressed support for strengthening background record checks on gun sales. The president posted on Twitter he is going to be "strongly pushing Comprehensive Background record checks," but has yet to unveil specific details on how to make add to the screening process.

The White House, throughout a combination of listening sessions with students, educators and government officials, has floated ideas covering anything from arming teachers and augmenting mental health screening – but a definite group of proposals has yet to emerge.

Toomey told NBC News on Sunday that his proposal with Manchin, which never muster sufficient support within the Senate in 2013 and 2015, might get renewed consideration considering the latest congressional push to reply to a deadly mass shooting.

"I certainly hope we will succeed with another run advertising online," Toomey said on "Meet the Press."