WASHINGTON — The president’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, just a day after an 18-year-old gunman slaughtered 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
The government agency that regulates guns and enforces firearm laws hasn't had a permanent director since 2015, and the confirmation of President Joe Biden's nominee, Steve Dettelbach, has become even more urgent for the White House after Texas' mass school shooting.
Dettelbach's hearing comes at a critical time for the administration, which is facing pressure to deal with countless mass shootings, including at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store that left 10 people dead and three wounded earlier this month.
Biden has faced an uphill battle in getting Congress to act on gun control legislation under the evenly split Senate. He nominated Dettelbach in April, several months after the White House was forced to withdraw an initial nominee, David Chipman, because some Democratic senators joined Republicans in opposing his confirmation