On the recordJuly 6, 2016
As we started what is commonly referred to as ``our 5 minutes,'' the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Jolly) talked about a proposal that he would like to bring forward to this body. We wish him well in that. He also wondered aloud why it would be that Democrats are so interested in bringing two commonsense proposals that he feels might fail--because it is our constitutional responsibility to the citizens that we are sworn to serve and represent. Speaker Ryan has said: ``We will not duck the tough issues. We will take them head on . . . we should not hide our disagreements. We should embrace them. We have nothing to fear from honest disagreements honestly stated.'' The Speaker is right. He is an honorable man. He met with John Lewis and myself last evening. John Lewis is the conscience of the House of Representatives and, I dare say, the soul of this Nation. The Speaker and John Lewis engaged in a conversation that was reverent in its tone and respectful. We stated, as no one better than John Lewis can, with great clarity about what is happening all across the Nation--the catastrophic loss of life due to gun violence and the utter frustration on the part of people on this side of the aisle and, frankly, families and people all across this great Nation, simply asking for the dignity of a vote--our constitutional responsibility.…
