On the recordJune 15, 2016
I thank the Senator from Connecticut for his work, along with the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Booker, Senator Blumenthal, and many others, in bringing people together today to call for commonsense action to make our communities safer. I know Senator Manchin was here earlier. He has been such a leader on the bipartisan bill with Senator Toomey about criminal background checks. I extend my heartfelt condolences to all the families of those who were massacred in Orlando and also those who lie injured--some very seriously, some critically injured--in hospital beds in Orlando today. My prayers are with the victims and their families. I look at this, first of all, and I look at the Senator from Connecticut and think of the people from his own State, whom he knows so well, the parents of those young, little children who were killed at Sandy Hook. I remember them coming to my office the day the background check bill went down. They came to my office, and a number of us were telling them that it was going to go down, that we didn't have enough votes to pass this commonsense measure for background checks. What I was struck by was that they knew that particular measure wouldn't save their babies, but they were there because they had come to the conclusion that this was the best way to save other children, to save other people from dying.…
