Political Quotes

“Today is a day of joy, and it was, indeed, a long time in coming, but here we are. My time in Congress was redefined 4 years ago, on December 14, 2012, when 26 innocent lives were taken at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Now, it is neither my district nor my State, but when it comes to children, all of us represent all children. Afterwards, when I met with the families, they gave me pictures of their children and spouses whom they lost that day, and I made a promise--the promise that we would not continue to watch passively or just offer moments of silence as these tragedies continue, that we should deliver, instead, treatment before tragedy. Today, Mr. Speaker, I say thanks to the Members of Congress who changed the course with me--who teamed up to finally change the way the United States treats the mentally ill. We set our eyes on one goal: to fix our Nation's broken mental health system. Since then, we have come together to work towards protecting millions of Americans who suffer from mental illness. We traveled to every corner of this Nation and listened to doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists, experts and advocates--most importantly, to patients, consumers, and their families. Through congressional hearings and investigations, we have discovered the abhorrent and sometimes fatal disconnect between the 112 Federal agencies that were assigned to treat the mentally ill.…”