Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator for continuing to focus us on why we are here. Frankly, we are not here just to talk; we are here to bring some resolution to this debate and to move on to consideration of the CJS appropriations bill. We are asking for two votes on what could be consensus measures with respect to protecting Americans. One, we want to make sure that if you are on the terrorist watch list, if you are on the no-fly list, then you cannot buy a gun. You are prohibited by law from buying a gun. There is no controversy about that in the American public. It would make a tremendous difference. Second, in order to make that provision truly effective, we need to make sure that no matter where you buy a gun--whether you buy it at a bricks-and-mortar store, online, or a gun show--you are subject to background checks. One of those provisions without the other doesn't protect us. Both of them together protect Americans from terrorist attacks, protect the flow of illegal guns into communities like Chicago without having any effect on individual Second Amendment rights. If you are a law-abiding citizen in this country, the two measures that we are proffering for a vote on the Senate floor will have zero impact on you. If we can get agreement to move forward in a consensus way on those two measures, my hope is that we could come together and find language that both sides could agree with. At the very least, we should have a vote on these measures so we could see where people stand.…”