Politics

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President Barack Obama stands with Vice President Joe Biden as he makes a statement in the Brady Press Briefing Room about policies he will pursue following the Newtown, Conn., school shootings, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) is surrounded by her fellow House Democrats as she speaks at a news conference calling for a ban on high capacity ammunition clips following the Newtown, Conn., shooting massacre, in the House Visitors Center on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, December 19, 2012. Rep. McCarthy's husband was killed and her son severely injured in a Long Island Rail Road commuter train shooting spree in 1993. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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President Barack Obama stands with Vice President Joe Biden as he makes a statement Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, about policies he will pursue following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct. Obama is tasking Biden, a longtime gun control advocate, with spearheading the effort. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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** FILE ** House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) holds a news conference about banning high capacity ammunition clips with House Democrats in the House Visitors Center on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. Rep. McCarthy's husband was killed and her son severely injured in a Long Island Rail Road commuter train shooting spree in 1993. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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President Barack Obama takes questions from reporters, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), fourth from right, who represents the district that Columbine High School is in and is near Aurora, where a gunman opened fire inside a movie theatre, speaks at a news conference calling for a ban on high capacity ammunition clips with fellow House Democrats in the House Visitors Center on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, December 19, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Left to right: Reps. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), who was wounded in the same shooting as his former boss, Gabrielle Giffords, leave together after holding a news conference about banning high capacity ammunition clips with other House Democrats in the House Visitors Center on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, December 19, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Vice President Joseph R. Biden (left) listens as President Obama gestures as he talks about the "fiscal cliff" negotiations during a news conference in the briefing room of the White House on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, in Washington. Mr. Obama also announced that Mr. Biden will lead an administrationwide effort to curb gun violence in response to the Connecticut school shootings. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, arrives to speak on the "fiscal cliff" negotiations on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, addresses reporters on the "fiscal cliff" negotiations on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, addresses reporters on the "fiscal cliff" negotiations on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. Mr. Boehner said President Obama should support a Republican plan to avoid January tax increases on everyone but those earning more than $1 million. If Mr. Obama doesn't support the measure, Mr. Boehner said, the president will be responsible for "the largest tax increase in history." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, speaks as Sen. Tom Harkin (left), Iowa Democrat, listens during a news conference on House Speaker John A. Boehner's proposal regarding the "fiscal cliff," on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, listens to Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, during a news conference about House Speaker John A. Boehner's proposal regarding the "fiscal cliff," on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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Left to right: Reps. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), who was wounded in the same shooting as his former boss, Gabrielle Giffords, leave together after holding a news conference about banning high-capacity ammunition clips with other House Democrats in the House Visitors Center on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) embrace during a news conference calling for a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips with fellow House Democrats in the House Visitors Center on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. Rep. McCarthy's husband was killed and her son severely injured in a Long Island Rail Road commuter train shooting spree in 1993. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks at a press conference on the fiscal cliff negotiations at the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)