[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 110 (Friday, July 8, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4551-H4552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUSTICE WILL BE DONE

  (Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, we are all stunned by the events 
last night in Dallas, and we are all outraged. An attack on the people 
who protect us is an attack on all of us.
  Our hearts are with the Dallas Police Department. Our hearts are with 
the victims, and especially with their loved ones. They wear the badge, 
too. I know that to be a cop's wife or a cop's husband is to prepare 
for the worst, but who could fathom such horror as this.
  There is no cause or context in which this violence, this kind of 
terror, is justified--none at all. There will be a temptation to let 
our anger harden our divisions. Let's not let that happen. There is 
going to be a temptation to let our anger send us further into our 
corners. Let's not let that happen. That script is just too easy to 
write. It is too predictable. Let's defy those predictions.
  A few perpetrators of evil do not represent us. They do not control 
us. The blame lies with the people who committed these vicious acts and 
no one else. As the President rightfully said: Justice will be done.

[[Page H4552]]

  We also have to let healing be done as well.
  This has been a long week for our country. It has been a long month 
for America. We have seen terrible, terrible, senseless things.
  Every Member of this body, every Republican and every Democrat, wants 
to see less gun violence. Every Member of this body wants a world in 
which people feel safe, regardless of the color of their skin. That is 
not how people are feeling these days.
  Sometimes we disagree on how to get there. Sometimes we disagree 
passionately on how to get there. But in having this debate, let's not 
lose sight of the values that unite us. Let's not lose sight in our 
common humanity, the values that brought those protestors to the 
streets of Dallas, the values that brought those protestors to the 
streets of Washington last night.
  Respect, decency, compassion, humanity, if we lose those fundamental 
things, what is left? We need to take a moment here for reflection, for 
thought, for prayer, for justice, for action.
  Right now, let's let justice be done, and also let healing occur, 
too.

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