- 36 House Democrats rolled out a bill to impose a 1,000% tax on AR-15-style weapons.
- It's intended to bypass Republican opposition in a party-line spending bill.
- Three experts said the plan would qualify for reconciliation.
Thirty-six House Democrats introduced legislation on Tuesday to levy a 1,000% tax on AR-15-style rifles in an effort to try and severely restrict access to the weapons through a maneuver that wouldn't require any GOP support.
Rep. Donald Beyer of Virginia formally rolled out the "Assault Weapons Excise Act" alongside 35 House Democrats spanning the ideological spectrum. Some of them are centrists who face difficult re-election bids in November.
"Congress must take action to stem the flood of weapons of war into American communities, which have taken a terrible toll in Uvalde, Buffalo, Tulsa, and too many other places," Beyer said in a press release, referring to a recent string of high-profile mass shootings.
"I have voted in the past for commonsense gun safety reforms only to see them run aground on Senate Republicans' filibuster; my bill presents a pathway to bypass that obstruction and enact lifesaving measures," the Virginia Democrat said. The filibuster is the 60-vote threshold that most bills need to pass in the Senate, meaning any Democratic bill needs 10 Republican votes to advance at the moment.
Co-sponsors included Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, chair of the House Progressive Caucus; Rep. Katie Porter of California; Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey; and Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York.
The bill is intended to pass through budget reconciliation, a legislative maneuver allowing Democrats to sidestep GOP resistance and approve legislation with a simple majority vote. Democrats employed the tactic to pass President Joe Biden's stimulus law as well as the House-approved Build Back Better bill that later died in the 50-50 Senate.
Only measures that are deemed to have a distinct impact on the federal budget can be put into such a bill. Three budget experts told Insider that the bill would likely qualify to be included in a reconciliation bill that Democrats hope to revive by summer's end, as it is structured as a tax.
"I think it passes the tests on the various requirements to qualify for reconciliation," William G. Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center and GOP budget expert, told Insider.
His view was shared by Ben Ritz, director of the Center for Funding America's Future at the Progressive Policy Institute, another think tank. Ritz said the bill's tax rate is easy to adjust to ensure it generates enough revenue so it complies with the strict rules of reconciliation. It's unclear how much money the tax would raise.
The measure lacked a Senate Democratic co-sponsor, typically considered a sign of support for a bill in both chambers. Senate Democrats appear to be treading cautiously around the legislation as they seek to hash out a final agreement with Republicans on a package of gun safety measures that include a modest expansion of background checks among other initiatives.
This story will be updated.