Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Virginia. That is as compelling a case as can be made. Before I yield the floor for a question from Senator Blumenthal, who has been here with me and Senator Booker for every one of the now 12 hours we have been standing here, I want to put that challenge to stop being a bystander to the body in very personal terms. This, for Senator Blumenthal and me, is rooted in our history as well. I was not more than 30 days from my election to the Senate--a celebratory moment in my life--when I was sitting on a train platform, waiting to go to New York City with my then-4-year-old and 1-year-old to see the Christmas lights, when I got the call about the shooting at Sandy Hook, and Senator Blumenthal and I were there hours later. And there are certainly days when I wish I wasn't there and I didn't witness the things I saw and connect with the tragedy that was evidenced that day. But our challenge from those families is to stop being bystanders, and there are similar stories of heroism that maybe I will get the chance to tell later tonight from inside those classrooms, but a letter I keep with me is from a mother whose child survived Sandy Hook. So let me just read an excerpt from it before yielding the floor to Senator Blumenthal, to make this challenge real from a mom who thinks about this every day. She said: In addition to the tragic loss of her playmates, friends and teachers, my first grader suffers from PTSD.…”