Political Quotes

“On July 14, I stood in this very spot to express my disappointment that my Republican colleagues and leadership showed both cowardice and callousness by failing to call up a single commonsense gun violence prevention measure before leaving town for 53 days. I rise today not just disappointed. Instead, I am ashamed; I am appalled. Republicans adjourned for a historic 7-week recess from D.C. without fulfilling their duty to the American people, and, once again, our most vulnerable communities paid the price. I am disappointed, but I am not defeated. So I rise today to remind my colleagues of what 7 weeks of Republican inaction looks like. In my district in Chicago, gun violence claimed the lives of 90 people and injured 375 more in August alone. This Labor Day weekend, Chicago passed 500 homicides for the year, the first time we have crossed this threshold in two decades. Outside of my district, 7 weeks of congressional inaction meant that more than 4,100 families lost a loved one to gun violence. In 2016, gun violence has taken the lives of almost 10,000 and wounded more than 20,000; 10,000 people killed by guns in less than 9 months--10,000. When will this number be high enough for us to take action? Who has to die for us to have the courage to pass commonsense gun legislation? Why does Democrats sitting in protest outrage Republicans, but 10,000 deaths merits no response?…”