Political Quotes

“I appreciate the great work my colleagues, Senator Durbin, Senator Schumer, Senator Rubio, and others, have done on the immigration bill. I am going to be pleased this week to support their work. But I came to the floor, as I have most weeks since being sworn in, to talk about the issue that has dominated discussions in my State over the past 6 months; that is, the issue of gun violence. Last week we commemorated the 6-month anniversary of the deadly shooting in Sandy Hook, CT, in which 20 6- and 7-year-olds, first graders, were gunned down, and 6 of their teachers, including as well the gunman and his mother. A lot of families came down here last week to continue to lobby both the House and the Senate. The look on their face is a complicated look. It is clearly first and foremost the look of incalculable grief as these families still try to figure out how to live the first summer of their life without their loved one, whether it be a first grader who would have been heading into second grade or a mother or a teacher or a brother or sister. But there is also, in combination with this grief, this look of shock, this look of shock that frankly gets worse every time they come down here as they try to understand how this place could stand by and do nothing, absolutely nothing, in the wake of the horror that Newtown, CT, has seen. At least we have taken a vote on the Senate floor.…”