The presiding officer the senator from connecticut. Mr. Murphy are we in a quorum call, mr. President . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i thank my colleagues for their indulgence this evening, and for those of us those of you who help us keep this floor open. I will make some longer remarks later this evening, but while we have a short break in the floor waiting for senator brown to arrive, i wanted to say a word of appreciation to all of my colleagues who have decided to join us this evening on the floor. This is my first appearance here, to talk about the imperative of changing the nations gun laws, recognizing that this number, 100 americans killed by guns every single day, is not inevitable. Almost every single one of these murders and suicides and accidental shootings is preventable. If we make different choices here on the floor of the United States senate, and our purpose tonight is to try to bring some consistency of effort
Across our land. I remember the sights and sounds of parents at the firehouse in sandy hook on the horrible day in 2012 when 20 beautiful children and six great educators died. The firehouse is where parents went to find out whether their children were okay. And the way they found out was that their children either appeared or they did not. For them in the cries and sobbing they experienced, the expressions of anguish, the look on those faces was only the beginning of their nightmare. But it transformed connecticut. And what we did in connecticut was to adopt commonsense measure, comprehensive steps to stop gun violence. But the lesson of connecticut is not only that those steps have reduced gun violence including homicide but also that states with the strongest laws are still on the the in ersy of the one mercy of the ones with the weakest because guns have no respect for state boundaries. They cross state lines and they do damage and death in states like connecticut with strong guns
Theood afternoon, i am president of Congressional Institute and am pleased to welcome you to the 2019 House Republican member retreat. The Congressional Institute has sponsored this Congress Since 1987. We believe it is important for members of congress to get together and discuss the important issues americans are concerned about. Care, ar, health vibrant economy, and Innovative Technology ideas. The Congressional Institute is very involved in congressional reform. We have looked at reform ideas to make the budget process effective and other solutions to strengthen congress. You can find our research and other information about congress on our website, constitutionalinstitute. Org. It is also a brandnew website, so please let us know how you can report on congressional operations and reform measures. Now, its my great and distinct honor to introduce the House Republican leader, kevin mccarthy. Mr. Mccarthy please, hold your applause. Thank you again. This is our weekly press conferenc
Last year. Its on so many peoples minds. Thats why our first order of business in the senate should be to take action on hr8, the house passed bipartisan background checks act. We must grapple with the stark reality that gun violence is becoming an alltoo routine occurrence and that we in congress have both the ability and responsibility to do something about it. Hr8 is the most common sense way for the senate to save american lives. Its bipartisan. It has already passed the house. And as a matter of policy, its absolutely necessary to close the loopholes in our background check system in order to make other gun laws effective. We can and should pass a very strong red flag law. But what good would a red flag law do if someone were adjudicat adjudicated, unable to get a gun, could go online and get that gun without a check at all . If you dont have background checks, bad people will get guns, felons, spousal abusers, those mentally ill and those will get red flags. So, its critical we p
Second amendment for american citizens and their absolute determination to go down the path of indecency and on impeachment what were seeing is, and theyre speaking publicly about this on the record to many of you that their first effort at impeachment seems not to have worked so now theyre looking foranother path to impeachment. Theyve been determined to impeach this president at all costs if hes elected regardless of the constitution and theyre fundamentally failing to abide by and live up to the Constitutional Responsibilities of turning judgments into an absolutely political endeavor. And in this regard i supplant one thing which is that weve seen the republicans on the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight Committee as well asked to bring in horowitz who conducted not just the Inspector Generals justice department, hes also had of the Inspector Generals association. Hes the one who issued reports on james comey who said comey failed to live up to his responsibility and set a dange