Were killed in Mass Shootings in this country while we were on the august recess when we should have been here doing our job. 100 americans are killed every day from gun violence. There are 100 desks in this room. There are 100 chairs behind each one of those desks. And if these were the americans killed by gun violence, they would add up to every single desk thats in this room. And yet the majority leader didnt bring us back during the august recess, didnt say we should cancel our vacation and come back to work for the American People, hasnt put a bill on the floor or given the opportunity for anybody else to put a bill on the floor now that weve been back in session for the last two months. In colorado alone in the last 1 months weve 18 months weve lost 882 people to gun violence. Thats a record in my state, madam president. Ifthe house of representatives s done their job. More than 200 days ago they passed background checks over there, and we havent even taken them up over here. This isnt a matter of bringing the bill up and vote on the bill. We cant even get the about toil the floor for 2 get the bill to the floor for 200 days. Why . Because the majority leader of the United States of america says that hes only going to bring Gun Legislation to the floor if he knows what the president will sign. Hes not capable, as the majority leader of the United States, to put an amendment on the floor for an upordown vote. Even when that amendment has passed the house of representatives 200 days ago and 96 of the American People support it. 96 of the American People support it. So why cant he bring it to the floor . He says that only if the president tells him what hell sign will he bring it to the floor. And we all know how hard it is for the president to make up his mind about anything. Particularly about guns, when he has one thing to say right after a tragedy has happened and then two days later avenue meets with the n. R. A. Days later after he meets with the n. R. A. , hes singing from a complete different song sheet. Heres what Mitch Mcconnell said in 2014. He said, quote, the senate should be Setting National priorities, not simply waiting on the white house to do it for us. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. This is an independent branch of government. The 100 people sitting in this room have been sent here to represent the pooh emthat voted for the people that voted for us and the people that didnt vote for us. And 96 of them said they want background checks on guns. But we cant even have a vote. Id like to see a vote just so i could see who in this Chamber Wants to vote against background checks. I think it would be amazing to the American People to learn that. Instead of just hiding behind this myth that the president of the United States gets to decide what comes to the floor. Hes not the majority leader. Theres one person in america whoest goes to decide what comes to who gets to decide what comes to the floor, one person in america, and thats the majority leader. Mitch mcconnell from kentucky. Its not donald trump. And he knew that in 2014. And he knows it today. But the n. R. A. Is too scared to see this thing come to the floor because they know itll pass. And that theyll lose as a result of that. Its long past time for us to beat the n. R. A. On this issue. M Washington State is here so i wont go on for too long. But if i could have a couple of minutes. Im also from a western state, the state of colorado. 20 years ago we had one of the very first School Shootings in this country at columbine high school. And in the wake of that, we passed background checks. We passed the same bill that Mitch Mcconnell wont bring to the floor, the same bill. Almost 20 years ago. And my oldest daughter is 20 years old. She was born right after columbine. And our two other daughters are 19 and 15. And like so many children across this country, they have grown up thinking that going to school is unsafe, that they could be shot in school. They had to do drills that we never had to do, madam president , when we were kids. Never had to do it. And they have the knowledge that the United States congress doesnt care about it because for 20 years weve done nothing. In colorado, a western state, a Second Amendment state, we passed these background checks. And as a result, every year 2 or 3 of the people that come to buy a gun dont cant buy a gun because theyre murderers or theyre rapists, or theyre domestic abusers. Theyre people that shouldnt have a gun. Id like to see anybody come to this floor and tell me why colorado would be more safe if we didnt have those background checks, why wed be more safe if murderers got guns and rapists got guns and domestic abusers got guns. They cant come here and do it and theyre hiding from the vo vote. Theyre hiding from the vote. And its their responsibility to vote. And theres only one person in america that can hold that vote and thats Mitch Mcconnell. I can tell you this. Its not because were too busy around here. We were in session last week for 27 hours. Thats not even a french wor workweek. Thats pitiful. Pitiful, 27 hours. Do you know how many amendments weve considered in the nine months that weve been here this year . 18. Thats two amendments a month. We have passed four amendments in this broken place. Pitiful. Pitiful. Before he became majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell came down here and said that we were going to work on fridays, that we were going to have regular order. 27hour workweek. I can tell you this. Its not because were considering the Election Protection legislation which are bipartisan bills that senators in this chamber want to vote on to respond to the russian attack on our democracy. Its not because were too busy with those bills. We are doing nothing here except for confirming judges for donald trump. And i think i speak for my colleagues when i say im willing to work more than 27 hours. Im willing to work a frempleg a french workweek or u. S. Workweek if it means we could actually have votes on amendments that 96 of the American People support. Madam president , ill close by saying there is no one else to do this job but us. The house has done their job. Donald trump cant make up his mind about anything. Maybe hed like us to send in the background checks to help him make up his mind about what he can do for the American People, but i can tell you this. Our kids cant do this. Theyre too busy. They are in school. Theyre trying to learn reading and trying to learn math. They should not be asked to try to figure out how to stop these Mass Shootings in this country or what it would look like to have a representative body of the United States actually represent the people that sent us here instead of sitting around in our offices trying to avoid hard votes. How is it a hard vote when nine out of ten americans support it . Its only a hard vote because the n. R. A. Is taking names and watching this. I say to my colleagues, we would be so much better off, democrats and republicans, ripping this band aid off and getting on with the business that the American People sent us here to do. Mitch mcconnell should put on this floor these background checks. Madam president , i thank my colleagues for their patience, and i yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from washington. A senator madam president , i join my colleagues on the floor tonight. I want to thank the senator from colorado for an articulate and very passionate speech about the reasons the United States senate should be voting on sensible gun laws. Ms. Cantwell thats what were really here to say tonight, that its past time that we take action and that we should in the United States senate let the American People know where members of the United States senate stand on these important issues. Too Many Americans have been impacted by gun violence and too many places have been the site of these attacks, whether its churches, synagogues, or mosques, whether its our schoolchildren or people just going about their everyday lives shopping, going to a concert, or even watching a movie, too many family and friends are left waiting trying to understand whether their loved ones are going to return home. And too many have been devastated finding out that their loved ones arent coming back. So, madam president , its time that we act here in the United States senate and support legislation that we know, the American People support. In my home state places like the Seattle Pacific university, the Jewish Federation of greater seattle, Freeman High School outside of ska, the marysville pillchuck high school shooting, the burlington Shopping Mall in skagit county, white swan, all of these communities have taught us that we needed to act. Its past time for us to act here, but the good news is that the people of Washington State did act. Those people rose up and helped support legislative initiatives that went to a vote of the people and not only have they been successfully passed, they are showing successful results. In the state of washington, we passed universal background checks by a popular vote in 2014, and we saw amazing results as in just the first 14 months. It helped prevent over 50 gun sales to felons. My colleague from colorado mentioned a similar thing in his state. And after closing private sales loopholes, it resulted in 144 denials to those with expanded background checks. So it does mean that the people of Washington State are at least safer in this regard because we have more tools in our toolbox to deal with this. Now, i also want people to understand that weve passed an extreme protection order law. That was passed in 2016 with nearly 70 of Washington State voters helping and voting in that election. So what we saw was that in a state where we probably have 27 gun ownership, we saw in 31 out of 39 counties people supporting this measure to say that extreme people should not be allowed to get their hands on a gun. This was supported in rural communities, suburban communities, urban communities. And when in front of the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Last year, king county deputy senior prosecuting attorney Kimberly Wyatt testified she called it a critical evidencebased Harm Reduction tool. End quote. How does that sound so threatening, a tool that Law Enforcement is telling us its critical evidencebase thats going to help us reduce harm to our fellow citizens . Deputy prosecuting attorney Kimberly Wyatt told a story of a doctor who contacted police because of a patient who wanted to obtain a concealed weapon permit, had repeatedly talked about making a hit list, quote, and doing harm to people. So using the extreme protection order, we are allowed to help keep these people from getting their hands on a gun and doing harm to themselves and to fellow citizens. So these measures supported in my state are initiatives by the people. As i said, supported by wide majorities across all geographic areas of our state. And yet we cant find out here in the United States senate how our Senate Colleagues would vote on these very important measures. So i hope that the other side of the aisle will consider we will go state by state if necessary. We will get the people involved in passing these laws. Why . Because they know theyre common sense and they work. And we want to keep the public safe. We know that we want to have these tools so Law Enforcement and others can do their job. It is long overdue to have a vote in the unitedtates senate on these issues, and i hope our colleagues will give us that opportunity. I thank the president and i yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from massachusetts. Mr. Markey madam president , i rise to echo the sentiments of the senator from Washington State. She has absolutely articulated the reasons why this senate should just stop what it is doing and bring these bills out to the floor for a vote so that we can begin to make it more difficult for the wrong people to be able to buy guns in our country. With no background checks, with no ability to identify who they are. And so this debate is one that should have already taken place in august after what happened in el paso, after what happened in dayton. We should have had a debate out here on the senate floor. The house has already passed legislation that deals with the background checks of any person who wants to buy a gun in our country. Thats the least that we should be able to do. And by the way, it polls out at 89 . There arent many issues that poll out at 89 . The reason that it does is that the country is horrified by what it is seeing day after day on their televisions as the carnage continues to rise, as the hemorrhaging of communities continues unabated across our country. The n. R. A. Retains a vicelike grip on the senate of the United States. Its almost as though theyre able to put a lock on these doors courtesy of the Republican Leadership so that no bill can come down here into the well of the senate to be debated on background checks. The n. R. A. Just refuses to allow those bills to come out here. And so we have no debates. We have no votes. We have no accountability. Thats the status of the United States senate in september of 2019 as we see an epidemic of violence across our country. So bring those bills out here on to the floor, republican party. Forget the money from the n. R. A. Forget all of the spending which they make. Let us not put a price on the lives of 34,000 americans who died just last year on top of the lives of those who died the year before and the year before. And those who are part of a preventive preventable epidemic in our country for next year and the year after and the year after in the future. And after we finish debating background checks, we should then have a debate on militarystyle assault weapons and whether or not they should be sold in our country. And highcapacity magazines and whether or not they should be sold in our country. Those were the weapons that we used in dayton. Those are the weapons that were used in el paso. Lets have a debate here on the floor of the United States senate. Lets have people have to be made accountable for allowing these dangerous weapons that belong on battlefields but not on the streets of our country. In fact, when theyre on the streets of our country, they turn our streets into battlegrounds where the criminal, where the bad person has a weapon in many instances that is more powerful than that of the police. Thats just plain wrong. And we can do something about it if the senate allows these doors to open, if the republicans allow this debate to take place. But of course it wont because the n. R. A. Controls access to the floor of this senate. Then lets have a debate on the loopholes which allow abusers, domestic abusers and terrorists to be able to purchase guns in the United States. Lets have that debate here in the floor of the United States senate. Lets have people have to vote on whether or not they want domestic abusers to purchase guns in our country. Or that they should be able to keep their gun, if theyve already been identified by the local police as being a danger because they are domestic abusers. And the same thing is true for safeguards against terrorists it purchasing weapons. And when are we going to have the debate on research at the centers for Disease Control on the causes of gun violence in our country . Ive introduced that bill for ten years to have that research be done. The house has now moved legislation to deal with that issue. But over here so far these doors are locked. That legislation cannot make it to the well of the senate so that we can have a debate. The n. R. A. Guards these doors. The n. R. A. Will not give permission to have a debate on whether or not we do research on gun violence in our country. What are the causes . Why radio why are we the highest among other industrial countries . What differentiates us from other industrial countries . For me, i say it is time for us ton this floor to ensure that the n. R. A. Stands for national relevant anymore in american politics, in senatorial politics. That the doors are open, that the legislation can come down, that we can have a full debate here on the senate floor after all that we have learned in these last weeks and months and years about how unnecessarily easy it is for people to be able to purchase these weapons. So this is a debate which the American People want, and were either going to have that debate in the course of reg