[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 91 (Wednesday, May 25, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Robb Elementary School Shooting

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I just had heard the minority leader 
say he was sickened by what happened in Uvalde.
  Tomorrow, we have a bill coming to the floor that addressed the last 
shooting, the one in Buffalo. Will he join us in allowing a debate and 
amendments to that bill that will address the gun plague in America?
  Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I had originally, before yesterday, 
planned to speak today at length about the fact that in 36 days 
children across the country are going to lose healthy meals they have 
been getting in the summer, as well as meals during the school year, 
and schools are going to be put in a very difficult situation--up to 
one-third of the schools may not be able to offer school meals at all.
  So that was my intent in coming to the floor, but after what 
happened, the horrible situation in Texas, 19 more children, a teacher, 
a grandma dying, now I wonder if it is how many more kids will be 
killed in the next 36 days.
  We don't have to live like this. We don't have to live like this 
where we are begging for 8 more Republicans to join us, 52 of us, who 
want to make sure kids get healthy meals. We don't have to live like 
that, and we don't have to live in a situation where parents are 
afraid--where people are afraid to go to their place of worship or they 
are afraid to go to the grocery store, where they are afraid to just 
live because of some random shooting by somebody who got a hold of a--
of a gun, a military assault weapon or didn't have to go through a 
background check and went to a gun show or whatever it is, whatever it 
is that is causing the carnage in our country related to guns and mass 
shootings.
  It is not happening in other countries--it is not happening in other 
countries, and they have as many challenges as we do. But in other 
countries, that may be somebody going into school with a knife and the 
kids get hurt, but they live. Here, it is assault weapons. It is 
shooting children indiscriminately in an elementary school. We don't 
have to live like this. We don't have to live like this.
  The question is, how many Republicans would join us to save 
children's lives from gun violence? How many? Can we just get started? 
You know, Leader Schumer has put two bills on the calendar related to 
background checks: the bipartisan Background Checks Act--closing the 
gun show loophole, requiring background checks for gun purchases made 
through private unlicensed dealers--and the Enhanced Background Checks 
Act, which would provide a national background check system, enough 
time to thoroughly review gun sales.

  Now, these are not controversial. Neither is feeding children by the 
way. These are not controversial. Ninety percent of the public says, 
duh, of course, of course.
  Now, the folks that don't want us to do it are the folks that make 
the guns. They make a lot of money. They are trying to pit us against 
each other. They put out all kinds of crazy theories. They are funding 
our Republican colleagues to stop anything from happening because, God 
forbid, if the profits of the gun manufacturers would go down because 
maybe there were a few less guns that were on the street.
  This is not rocket science. We know what to do. I grew up in a 
northern Michigan community surrounded by legal gun ownership--my own 
family, my friends, my relatives. You know when the assault weapon ban 
went in for 10 years, nobody in my family stopped hunting. Nobody in my 
family had to say, oh, well, we can't do what we want to do because 
military assault weapons aren't available.
  That was put in by Democrats. It was then repealed by Republicans. 
And we saw violence--violent shootings that had gone down tremendously, 
suddenly go up. So there is a lot of different things that we could do. 
And the question is, will we come together on any of them? Will we 
start with comprehensive background checks? That is the question.
  Will we have Republicans joining us? Every action we take--or 
inaction--relates to our values, and it relates to our will to do it.
  We can do anything if we want to do it. I mean, last week we came 
together on this floor to address baby formula for the WIC program, and 
we did it together. It was great. One of the fastest things I have ever 
seen move through here, and I appreciate that. I appreciate Senator 
Boozman joining me in that.
  But why can't we then extend that, first of all, to making sure in 
the summer, kids get healthy food that they are going to start losing 
in 36 days and that during the school year we are supporting our 
schools to provide healthy meals for all of our children in a time of 
supply chain breakdowns, costs going up.
  And what happens when we start hearing in the fall from those schools 
that have to stop all school meals because somehow we couldn't come 
together and prioritize feeding children?
  And on top of that--I mean, I hate to say feeding children is, you 
know--all of this is important, but their lives--we can't even come 
together around basic commonsense measures that will begin to address 
what is happening with the random shootings and the killings of our 
babies, of our children. We can do better than this. We have to do 
better than this. We have to do better than this.
  We only need 10 Republicans--we need 8 Republicans to help us feed 
healthy kids in the summer and on into the--give kids healthy meals 
this summer and in the fall, 8. We only need 10, we only need 10 
Republicans to join us on background checks, closing the gun show 
loophole.
  We don't need everybody. We don't need everybody. Some folks can go 
run and stand with the gun manufacturers and what has become incredibly 
extreme NRA dangerous positions.
  Folks, we just need 10--10 people to stand up and go: This is too 
much. This has gone too far. We can do better than this.
  Because if not now, what is the number? I would like to ask Leader 
McConnell, what is the number?
  How many children will he describe and how much sympathy will he show 
for dead children on the floor of the U.S. Senate before it is enough? 
How many? One hundred more? Two hundred more? A thousand more? When is 
it enough, when too many children have been killed? When is it enough?
  It is past enough right now. We can do better than this for our kids, 
and I hope this is the moment that Republicans in the U.S. Senate will 
step up and join us.

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