[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 23 (Monday, February 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S584-S585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE MEMORIES OF THE VICTIMS OF THE SENSELESS ATTACK AT MARJORY 
           STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL ON FEBRUARY 14, 2018

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 42, submitted earlier 
today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 42) honoring the memories of the 
     victims of the senseless attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas 
     High School on February 14, 2018.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the 
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with 
no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 42) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I would like to thank my 
colleague Senator Rubio for joining me to introduce this resolution 
today honoring the 17 victims of the senseless attack at Marjory 
Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018: Alyssa Alhadeff, 
Scott Beigel, Martin Duque Anguiano, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime 
Guttenberg, Chris Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, 
Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex 
Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, Peter Wang.
  I think of those innocent lives almost every day, lost too early in 
the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 
Parkland, FL.
  These individuals were sons, daughters, parents, and partners. They 
were educators, athletes, musicians. Many of them just kids, with a 
life full of promise ahead of them.
  My heart breaks knowing they will never get to pursue their dreams 
and that their families will always have a piece of their heart 
missing.
  Since that horrible day, I have worked closely with many of the 
victims' families to ensure no child, educator, or family has to 
experience that again.
  We passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act 
while I was Governor of Florida to make sure our State does everything 
in its power to prevent further tragedies.
  Now, as a U.S. Senator, I am fighting for improvements on the Federal 
level, including the Luke and Alex School Safety Act, named after Luke 
Hoyer and Alex Schachter, which builds on our work to keep schools 
safe.
  And while we can't bring back these lives lost that tragic day nearly 
3 years ago, I will always work to honor those lost and do everything 
in my power to protect our students and educators and ensure they have 
a safe environment to learn and succeed.
  Now, I yield the floor to my colleague Senator Rubio
  Mr. RUBIO. I thank my colleague from Florida.
  I recall so vividly that day on February 14, 2018. It started like it 
does most days with people across the country. They take their children 
to school, drop them off, and, in this case, maybe some of them drove 
themselves.
  And within hours, the lives of 17 families had been changed forever. 
It was a horrible tragedy: 17 students and faculty members who lost 
their lives; another 17 that were wounded in the attack. And it shocked 
the country.
  It was shocking because they went to do what so many people do on a 
regular basis in a place where you never think that something like that 
could happen.
  And as my colleague pointed out, there is no resolution in the Senate 
or words that we can say that will restore the lives that were lost, 
erase the pain still felt by those victims, the families, the friends, 
those who loved them.
  But even as we continue to grieve, we must also work to prevent 
something like this from happening anywhere at any time.
  I was proud that in the early days after this tragedy, within just a 
few weeks, together, working across the aisle, we passed the STOP 
School Violence Act, which provided Federal grant money for school 
safety. And that has been ongoing now for 3 years.
  We passed the Fix NICS Act, which helped patch some of the holes that 
existed in our background check system.
  Since that day, I have had the honor of getting to know and working 
with the parents of many of those who lost their lives at Marjory 
Stoneman Douglas High School.
  And I will say that their grace in the face of the most traumatic 
loss that any parent, any sibling, any cousin, any grandparent, anyone 
can imagine--working with them has been humbling in the face of the 
grace that they have shown. The commitment to ensuring that no one else 
has to go through what they did is inspiring.
  There are so many I can point to who have made a difference in their 
own way. They have all sort of focused on different aspects of what we 
should be doing, and I just want to take a moment today to recognize 
one individual, Max Schachter.
  I know many of you have gotten to know him here. This man works 
tirelessly. He lost his son Alex on that day.
  But his commitment has actually produced significant progress, thanks 
to his leadership, and I must say his leadership--and I spoke to him 
again last Friday, and he continues to work on these issues.
  And thanks to that, last year, the Federal Government created a 
Federal clearinghouse on school safety best practices--a place that any 
district, any school can go to and something that is constantly being 
updated, that puts an essential location for best practices and offers 
access to an array of resources for schools across our Nation that are 
looking to protect their students.
  And this is important because in the aftermath of this, everyone was 
trying to figure out, well, what should we do? And there was no central 
place where you could go to and find that out.
  And recently, as my colleague from Florida has pointed out, I, along 
with my colleague from Florida and Senator Ron Johnson, we reintroduced 
the Luke and Alex School Safety Act, named after--partially after his 
son Alex, which would make this clearinghouse permanent. It was put in 
place

[[Page S585]]

by the Agency, but this would make it permanent.
  And I just think of parents like Max, who have poured so much of 
their own lives into this work and continue to do so, and he is always 
churning out new ideas.
  We spoke this last Friday about data that is now available, that a 
lot of people don't even know is there; data that shows you which 
schools are having suspensions, which schools are having fights, which 
schools are having arrests and violence as a way of finding anomalies 
in the data. I mean, he is constantly--and Max has become a subject 
matter expert through this tragedy, but he is constantly looking for 
improvements that can be not just done in Florida but across the 
country, and he is tireless all across the country.
  There is something else we took that was successful in Florida, and 
today we have reintroduced, along with Senator Reed and Senator King 
and my colleague from Florida--that is reintroducing the Extreme Risk 
Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act, to encourage the passing 
of these laws that allow you to identify someone who is a danger to 
themselves or others, to go to a court, provide them due process, and 
potentially prevent a suicide or a senseless act like what we saw on 
that day 3 years ago.
  And this bill would not mandate it, but it would dedicate the 
Department of Justice funds to incentivize more States to adopt similar 
measures. It will encourage the rest of the country to follow the lead 
in Florida and to save lives. We know it has prevented suicides and we 
know it has prevented potential attacks in Florida and in States where 
it has been implemented. And we can't force more States to do it, but 
we can try to incentivize them.
  So it is my hope and my prayer that as we continue to work together 
that we can achieve this and other things so that no family, no 
community, no State, no one will have to go through what the incredible 
families of Parkland endured on that day and the 3 years that followed.
  Today, as we remember the lives that were lost, let us pledge to 
honor them by continuing to move forward toward safer and more secure 
schools and communities in our work here.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.

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