On the recordJanuary 26, 2011
I want to thank Majority Leader Reid and our colleagues from Arizona, Senators Kyl and McCain, for bringing this important resolution to the floor of the Senate. It has been over 2 weeks, but our shock and sadness over what happened on that beautiful Saturday morning in Tucson is still very real. They were just ordinary Americans, engaged in what we might call the dialog of democracy, when a gunman stepped in and began firing. Within seconds Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and a dozen innocent bystanders lay injured, and six irreplaceable lives were ended. Most of us never had the good fortune to meet Judge John Roll, Gabe Zimmerman, Phyllis Schneck, Dot Morris, Dorwan Stoddard, or that beautiful little girl, Christina Green. While they shared the Earth with us, we did not know them. But we have come to know them in the last 2 weeks. They were good and decent people who loved their families, tried to help others, and believed in the promise of this great Nation. We mourn their loss.
