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Congressional leaders — at the urging of President Donald Trump — have reached a tentative deal to pass modest gun legislation as part of a broader spending package, three sources familiar with the talks told POLITICO on Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed the inclusion of narrow, bipartisan legislation aimed at improving records and information-sharing in the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System — even though gun control advocates say the provision barely moves the needle on firearms restrictions. (Bade, Everett, Ferris and Caygle, 3/21)

The bill also incorporates legislation promoted by the GOP to respond to the mass shooting last month at a Parkland, Fla., high school. The measure, the Student, Teachers and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act, would authorize $50 million in grants to help schools increase security and learn how to better identify potential threats. (Radelat, 3/21)

In a victory for Democrats, the provision will partially alter the 1996 ban, known as the “Dickey Amendment,” which the CDC has interpreted as a blanket prohibition on gun-violence research. The legislation will explicitly allow the agency to conduct public-health research on gun use, though it would still be barred from advocating tighter gun control. Supporters of the Dickey provision say it ensures that the federal government doesn’t become enmeshed in a contentious political issue. But Democrats and some centrist Republicans contend that the amendment has had a chilling effect on scientific research into the issue, interfering with a greater understanding of the causes of gun violence. (Hackman, 3/21)

Many Republicans argue the CDC has essentially engaged in self-censorship, but advocates say the agency can’t do research when there hasn’t been any money appropriated for it. When the Dickey Amendment was first passed, CDC researchers stopped working on gun-related projects, and federal funding disappeared. Congress shifted the $2.6 million CDC had earmarked for studying gun violence and prevention into a fund for studying traumatic brain injuries. (Weixel, 3/21)