WASHINGTON – Even with increased involvement from the White House, a set compromise on expanding background check legislations still remain out of reach as debates continue. The Senate Committee is preparing for votes this week on universal background checks and other similar proposals.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has been the lead Republican negotiating with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats over a compromise background check measure. They’ve been stuck over Democrats’ insistence that records be kept on sales between private individuals.

“I think we’re very close,” Coburn said Tuesday in a brief interview. “I think we’ll eventually get there.”

On the opposite end, most were less optimistic as talks continue of reaching a compromise to resolve the dispute, this was according to Senate aids and lobbyists who wanted to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to divulge any details of the talks publicly.

Improving background checks throughout the country was one of the cornerstone of Obama’s gun proposals in January, following the tragic shooting of 26 students in Newtown, Connecticut. The incident following other shootings that made gun laws a top priority in Washington.

The president wants to make background checks a requirement for all firearm transactions, as currently only sales from federally licensed gun dealers (FFLs) are required to make the check. Now, they are pushing to have these checks mandatory for private sales at guns shows, personal exchanges and online transactions.

The centerpiece of President Obama’s gun violence agenda is in peril amid a deadlock among Senate negotiators over how to implement and enforce a proposal requiring background checks for private gun sales.

Democrats say records must be kept of private sales because that would be the only way to verify that background checks for those transactions were conducted. Supported by the National Rifle Association, many Republicans have objected, saying that would be a step toward a government registry of gun owners – something they oppose and the White House has said will not happen.

Talks to reach a compromise could continue until the legislation reaches the Senate floor, probably in April.