Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I heard the remarks of my colleague from Illinois, and I, too, hope that we can get past the rhetoric and the talking points of the past and actually do something meaningful when it comes to public safety and address the terrible tragedies like the one that occurred at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida just 2 weeks ago. But we are not going to do it by trotting out our laundry lists of requests and saying that it has to be all of this or nothing because when you say here in Washington--and particularly in Congress--``I want everything on my list or I want nothing,'' one thing is for sure. You will end up with nothing, and that simply is an unacceptable outcome, particularly when it comes to the public safety crisis manifested here most recently at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. We know that there were many, many failures; you might even call this a systemic failure when it comes to the children at Stoneman Douglas High School. First and foremost, why didn't Federal and local law enforcement follow up on threats and warnings? This young man, the shooter who took the lives of 17 people, telegraphed in very clear, unmistakable language what he intended to do, but the very people whom we trust and entrust with public safety at the Federal and State levels did not respond. We know that the alleged shooter was expelled from school for disciplinary reasons.…”