Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator for a question that is unanswerable. The answer is we cannot. As you know, there is a very real, palpable fear out there today. There is no way to look at what happened in San Bernardino, to look at what happened in Orlando, and not be scared. Yes, it is an attack that is designed to elicit a fear that is disproportional to the actual threat; that is what terrorism is. But people's fear is elevated when they don't see us taking action. Earlier today I think Senator Casey made this point. He said: Can you imagine doing nothing after September 11? Can you imagine if our response after that tragedy was to just do nothing, to just move on to the next piece of legislation as if it didn't occur? That was 3,000 people whose lives were taken. There are 30,000 people a year who are killed by guns. If you add up those who have been killed in mass shootings, the numbers approach that of September 11. So this is a moment in which I think it is impossible for us to go back home and once again say that we haven't done anything. I guess that is the reason we are here. I know it is uncomfortable to stop the CJS process, to force and ask staff to stay beyond regular hours. For many of us--and I think Senator Brown is amongst this group--we just couldn't pretend this was business as usual again. We couldn't go through another one of these shootings--this one the worst in history of this country--and just go back to our regular business.…”