Donald M. Payne: “When Speaker Pelosi took the gavel on January 3, she was surrounded by children, and as she brought down the gavel to…”

“When Speaker Pelosi took the gavel on January 3, she was surrounded by children, and as she brought down the gavel to commence the 116th Congress, these were her words: ``I now call the House to order on behalf of all of America's children.'' The importance of Speaker Pelosi's words cannot be overstated. Last year was horrendous for children in our country. If we look at gun violence or immigration or healthcare or poverty relief, children suffered last year under the Trump administration and a Republican Congress. On February 14, 2018, a gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, to commit mass murder; 17 people were killed, another 17 were injured, and most of them were children. The Parkland shooting wasn't the first school shooting in our Nation's history, and it wasn't the last. But the Parkland students, standing on the shoulders of student leaders before them, stood up and marched. They bound together in an intersectional, nationwide movement to demand that Congress and the President do something to make our country safer. Unfortunately, their pleas fell on deaf ears. The President and his administration were too inept or too cowardly to confront the NRA. And because my colleagues across the aisle were too inept or too cowardly to confront the NRA, we witnessed preventable shooting after preventable shooting.…”