Zoe Lofgren: “Mr. Speaker, for 8 months the conference committee on the juvenile justice bill has done nothing, has not met. In fact…”

“Mr. Speaker, for 8 months the conference committee on the juvenile justice bill has done nothing, has not met. In fact, the last and the only meeting of the conference committee that has the opportunity to deal with the issue of gun safety was in August, and was not substantive. Since then, we have seen shootings in day care centers and schools, we have seen 6-year-olds shoot 6-year-olds, we have seen firefighters shot as they try to do their jobs, and the congressional response has been simply nothing. When the President calls congressional leaders to the Oval Office to get the conference started and no meeting is scheduled, something is wrong. A few days ago, the President called the chairman and the ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to meetings at the White House to simply ask them to meet in an open and public conference meeting, and still no such meeting has been called. We need to stop hiding behind closed-door negotiations. We cannot have a bill without a conference meeting, so we need to meet. Not having a meeting is the same as killing the bill. Time is running out, and the families of this Nation are waiting to see what we will do. I am hopeful that we can come together on a bipartisan basis to support this motion to instruct, which simply says, get the job done. Sit down. Talk to each other. Have a meeting.”