[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 14, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3845-S3846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                        2016--MOTION TO PROCEED

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion to proceed.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 120, H.R. 2578, a bill 
     making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and 
     Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year 
     ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRANKEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Ayotte). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                        Mass Shooting in Orlando

  Mr. FRANKEN. Madam President, I rise to address the tragic events in 
Orlando, FL. In the early hours of Sunday, a gunman walked into Pulse, 
a popular, crowded LGBT nightclub, on Latin night and opened fire, 
taking the lives of 49 people and wounding 53 more in an act of terror 
that has been called the worst mass shooting in American history. It 
was also the deadliest attack on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
transgender community that our Nation has ever known.
  State and Federal authorities are continuing their investigation into 
the assailant and what his motives were that night. I believe 44 of the 
surnames of those who died were Latino. According to the FBI, the 
shooter had previously been investigated for potential ties to 
terrorist organizations, and during the attack, the shooter called 
authorities and pledged his allegiance to ISIL.
  We must do everything in our power to eradicate this evil, combat 
recruitment and radicalization, and we must make sure our efforts and 
our rhetoric do not scapegoat an entire community based on the actions 
of a single sick individual.
  The investigation is ongoing, and many details are still emerging, 
but we know this: The 49 men and women who lost their lives on Sunday 
night were murdered by a man with hate in his heart--perhaps even hate 
directed within--and an assault weapon in his hand.
  Following each and every tragic shooting, one thought haunts me, and 
that is that we in Congress are failing the American people. We have 
failed to answer their repeated calls to address gun violence in this 
country. We have failed to take steps necessary to make our communities 
safer, and as a result we are complicit in creating the circumstances 
that give rise to these events. We can't pretend this part isn't on us.
  Our State of Minnesota has a proud tradition of responsible gun 
ownership. Generations of Minnesotans have learned to hunt from their 
parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors, but 
when I speak to constituents on this issue, the message is clear: 
Minnesotans want Congress to take commonsense steps to reduce gun 
violence and ensure their family's safety. There is a balance to be 
struck here, and I strongly believe that we are capable of striking 
that balance.

  The Second Amendment doesn't protect the rights of everyone to carry 
whatever weapon he likes in any place he wishes for whatever purpose he 
wants. The Second Amendment does not entitle criminals, potential 
terrorists, or people with serious mental illness to carry guns. It 
does not entitle Americans to own guns designed to slaughter scores of 
people in seconds.
  We can't turn back time. We can't bring back the lives we have lost. 
But, for God's sake, what is it going to take? How many tragedies like 
this does this Nation have to endure before we find the moral 
conviction to do something about gun violence?
  It is important for us to acknowledge not just how this atrocity was 
committed but who the gunman targeted, and where. In his remarks on 
Sunday, President Obama rightly drew the Nation's attention to the site 
of this most recent tragedy--to Pulse, a gay nightclub that Barbara 
Poma opened to honor the memory of her brother John, whom she lost to 
AIDS years earlier. Barbara explained that her family was strict and 
had a strong sense of tradition. Being gay was frowned upon. Coming out 
could not have been easy for John, but when he did, his family welcomed 
him with acceptance and love. Pulse was named for John's heartbeat, and 
it was a place, according to his sister, where he was ``kept alive in 
the eyes of his friends and his family.''
  In describing the shooting, President Obama explained that ``the 
place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub--it is a place 
of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise 
awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil 
rights.'' But it is also important to note that, like so many of the 
bars and nightclubs serving the LGBT community, Pulse was a place where 
people have come together to feel safe. Like the historic Stonewall Inn 
in New York City, the birthplace of the gay rights movement, and Bar 
19, a pub in Loring Park that has served Minneapolis's gay community 
since 1952, Pulse was a sanctuary.
  Not everyone is welcomed by their family and their friends with 
acceptance and love. Even today, not everyone is able to walk down the 
street holding the hand of their loved one without fear. For those in 
search of solidarity in their communities, and for those in search of 
safety, Pulse provided refuge. Regrettably, even today, that refuge is 
sorely needed. Despite long overdue victories, leaders in the LGBT 
movement have perceived an increase in violence directed against their 
community. LGBT Americans continue to face threats, intimidation, and 
violence--on the street, in the workplace, and at school. By and large, 
they remain vulnerable to discrimination.
  As Americans come together in the days and weeks ahead, as we seek 
comfort and community at pride celebrations and candlelight vigils, it 
is incumbent upon all of us, but most especially policymakers, to do 
everything in our power to change the culture of hate and to pursue a 
more equal union. It is simply unacceptable that in 28 States, 
including Florida, there are no protections to prevent a survivor of 
the Orlando attack from being fired just because he is gay. In 28 
States, including Florida, there are no protections to prohibit a 
homeless shelter from turning away a survivor of the Orlando attack 
because she is a lesbian. In 29 States, including Florida, there are no 
protections to prevent a business from refusing service to a survivor 
of the Orlando attack because she is transgender. That isn't right. 
This is not who we are as a country, and it must change.
  Congress must take up and pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act to 
protect our children--our children--in our schools. And Congress must 
take up and pass the Equality Act to make clear that discrimination and 
hate have no place in our workplaces and in our homes.
  I was around 10 years old at the height of the civil rights movement. 
My family used to eat dinner watching TV on plates on tray tables, and 
we would watch the news. And I remember seeing footage of police in the 
South siccing dogs on Black civil rights demonstrators, going after 
them with firehoses and billy clubs. I never will forget my dad 
pointing at our television screen and saying to me and my brother, ``No 
Jew can be for that.'' No Jew can be for that. It was obvious to him, 
as it should be to all of us, that when some members of our communities 
face injustice, we all do.
  In the face of that pervasive discrimination, that stain on our 
values and our history, our Nation recognized then, as it should 
recognize now, that

[[Page S3846]]

some problems demand a national solution. We must take action to make 
our communities safe--all of our communities safe. We must engage in 
these difficult conversations about persistent inequality and about gun 
violence. And we must dedicate ourselves to securing real change.
  I implore my colleagues: Let us make our laws our sanctuaries. Let us 
honor the memory of those lost on Sunday and the lives of those who 
survived by recognizing our obligation to take action. No Member of 
Congress can be for this.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I rise today to remember the victims of 
the terrorist attack in Orlando, FL. Forty-nine people were killed and 
even more were wounded when a self-proclaimed ISIS sympathizer attacked 
Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. I can't imagine 
the trauma experienced by those who were present in the club or the 
suffering of the families now mourning a beloved son or daughter.
  My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, with the families of 
the deceased, and with all those currently sitting at the hospital beds 
of the injured. My thoughts and prayers are also with the people of 
Orlando, whose sense of security has been shattered by this deadly 
attack.
  Every deadly ideology of the last century has been characterized by a 
fundamental disregard for the sacredness of human life. The form of 
radical Islam espoused by ISIS and its adherents is no different. Like 
every radical ideology before it, it regards individual human beings as 
expendable commodities in its pursuit of a Utopia. More than that, it 
sees certain individuals as not only expendable but dangerous, and it 
seeks to exterminate them accordingly. The blood-soaked villages of 
ISIS-controlled Iraq and Syria bear terrible witness to the slaughter 
of Christians, Yazidis, moderate Muslims, and anyone else ISIS felt was 
standing in its way.
  As a nation, we have to stand against the threat of terrorism. We 
have to ensure that our military is equipped to destroy terrorist 
organizations abroad and that our law enforcement personnel are 
equipped to confront terrorist threats here at home. We need to control 
our borders and modernize our immigration system so that we know who is 
coming and who is going from our Nation. We need to invest in our 
intelligence agencies and hold them accountable as they work to keep 
our homeland safe. We have to support our allies who are taking the 
fight to the terrorists. And most of all, we have to show the utter 
bankruptcy of an ideology that regards human beings as expendable.
  America has a proud history of standing up for the dignity and 
freedom of the human person against tyrants of all stripes. We stood 
against the deadly ideologies of the 20th century, and we will stand 
against the deadly ideologies of the 21st century.
  On Sunday morning we saw the darkest side of humanity, but, as so 
often happens, when we see the worst in human beings, we also see the 
best--the DJ who helped a patron escape from the club; the man who 
stuffed his bandana into a bullet hole on a stranger's back to stop the 
bleeding; the man who pulled a wounded stranger to safety behind a car 
and then kept him conscious on the way to the hospital; the long lines 
of Orlando residents who came forward to donate blood; and, of course, 
the police officers who walked into that club and who wake up every day 
ready to lay down their lives for the rest of us. Against that spirit, 
terrorism will never prevail.
  Our whole Nation grieves with the citizens of Orlando. May God bless 
and comfort the families of all those who died, and may He heal all 
those whose hearts are broken.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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