Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator. I want to thank Senator Booker and Senator Blumenthal for being here from the very beginning. This has been miraculous in its own regard, not just being able to spend this time with the two of you but to have had the majority of our caucus come to this floor and express their support for our determination to move forward this debate and, at the very least, to get votes, but really to try to bring consensus around this issue. I don't think I am breaking confidences to share that both Senator Booker and I spoke at our meeting yesterday of Democrats in which Senator Booker shared an immensely powerful series of stories about his experience as mayor of a grief-torn city, his direct personal intersection with friends, with neighbors who had lost their lives. I know how deeply and personally this has affected him. I tell you why I am doing this as maybe a means of telling you why Senator Blumenthal and I are both doing this, and I tell you through the prism of a story from the awful, awful series of days following the shooting in Sandy Hook. Senator Blumenthal and I went to the first of what were umpteen wakes and funerals. We were standing in line at the first wake about to talk to the first set of parents who had lost, in this case, their young daughter. I remember being so uncertain about what we were supposed to say to these parents--not just what you are supposed to say to provide some measure of condolence, but we were their elected representatives.…”