Washington (AFP) - The Democrats' first attempt to respond to the successive mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, failed in the Senate where Republicans blocked the domestic terrorism bill that would have opened the discussion on difficult questions about hate crimes and gun policy.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, tried to urge Republicans to adopt a domestic terrorism bill that the House of Representatives had quickly approved last week after the mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo and a church in Southern California targeting people of color. He said it could become a basis for negotiation.

But Thursday's vote failed, raising new doubts about the possibility of a serious discussion, let alone a final settlement, on gun safety measures. The final vote was 47-47, less than the 60 votes required to take up the bill. All Republicans voted against it.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, "We are disappointed."

She added that it is "shameful" for the National Rifle Association and others to stand in the way of such measures but encouraged Congress to move forward.

She said, "The President has been very clear that the time has come to act."

The rejection of the bill, only two days after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas that killed 19 children and teachers, softened the impact of the ongoing congressional failure to pass legislation to curb the outbreak of gun violence in the country. It also highlighted the spread of mass shootings in the United States as Congress struggled to respond to previous shootings.

Schumer said he would give bipartisan negotiations in the Senate about two weeks while Congress works to try to draft a settlement bill that could pass the Senate 50-50, where 60 votes will be needed to overcome the bill's filibuster.

Schumer said before the vote, "None of us have expectations that this will be easy."

A small bipartisan group of about 10 senators met on Thursday afternoon for the second time to negotiate gun legislation looking for any compromise that could win approval in Congress.

They narrowed the discussion to three topics - background checks for guns purchased online or at gun shows, red flag laws designed to remove weapons from those who may harm themselves or others, and programs to enhance security in schools and other buildings.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who is leading the negotiations, said: "We have a range of options that we will work on."

Murphy has been pushing for gun legislation negotiations since the 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 20 children and six teachers. Joining him on Thursday were Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, Senator Joe Manchin, Democratic Senator Pat Toomey, and Republican senators, among others. Collins described the meeting as "constructive."

What is clear, however, is that providing funding for local gun safety efforts may be more politically feasible than setting new federal policies.

None of the lawmakers can definitively say whether any of the efforts will be able to win all Democrats and have the 10 Republican senators in the Senate they need to advance after the Republican-led filibuster.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that he met earlier with Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas and encouraged senators to cooperate for practical results.

McConnell said, "I hope we can reach a bipartisan solution that is directly tied to facts about this horrific massacre."

Republicans say the bill does not sufficiently focus on combating domestic terrorism committed by far-left groups. Under the bill, agencies would be required to issue a joint report every six months to assess and estimate domestic terrorism threats nationwide, including threats posed by white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups.

Supporters of the bill say it will close intelligence-sharing gaps between the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI so officials can better track and respond to the growing threat of white extremist terrorism.

Efforts will focus on the spread of racist ideology online such as conspiracy theories, which investigators say motivated an 18-year-old white armed man to lead a three-hour campaign of a racially motivated mass shooting broadcast live two weeks ago in a busy supermarket in Buffalo; or hostility towards members of the Taiwanese community at a church in Laguna Woods, California, which resulted in one man being shot dead and five others wounded.

Under current law, the three federal agencies already investigate, prevent, and prosecute acts of domestic terrorism. But the bill would require each agency to open offices dedicated to these tasks and establish a joint interagency task force to combat white supremacist activity.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair