[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8878-8879]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                         THE SANDY HOOK PROMISE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, our hearts are broken, but our spirit is 
not. That is the Sandy Hook promise.
  Tomorrow marks 6 months since the tragedy in Newtown, a tragedy 
seared in the minds of every person across America--indeed, in the 
minds of millions across the world. Like the anniversaries of the 
shootings in Tucson, Arizona, in Oak Creek, and in so many other 
communities, tomorrow marks an anniversary of shock, uncertainty, 
violence, horror. Tomorrow marks another solemn reminder of the 
persistent plague of gun violence in our society and of the ongoing 
challenge to end it.
  Over the past 6 months, many words have been spoken to offer our love 
and support to the community of Newtown and to the students and 
teachers of Sandy Hook. Yet, from the start, we have known that words 
of comfort would never be enough, that there would be no substitute for 
the action that we must take that would be a truly fitting memorial to 
the 20 children and six teachers and administrators lost that day.
  Yesterday, we had visits from the families, who brought pictures of 
their loved ones who were lost--Daniel Barden, Lauren Rousseau, 
Benjamin Wheeler, Mary Sherlach, Dylan Hockley--heartbreaking photos of 
these children and family members who were lost. I don't know how much 
more motivation we need than to see the tears in their eyes and the 
resolve in their voices to use their grief as a source of strength to 
help save other people.
  That would start with a vote on bipartisan legislation by Congressman 
Mike Thompson, Congressman Peter King, and 180 cosponsors to expand and 
strengthen our background checks. No one knows better than the people 
of Newtown--the men and women, mothers and fathers, brothers and 
sisters--who lost their loved ones on December 14, 2012. Since that 
dark day, the families of Newtown and their supporters have turned 
their sorrow into strength, their pain into perseverance, their 
unspeakable loss into unmatched courage and determination to carry on.
  Yesterday, these mothers and fathers met with both Republican and 
Democratic leaders. Yet they had come with no partisan agenda. They 
came as Americans who wished to spare their fellow parents and family 
members the mourning, fear and terror they felt 6 months ago. Their 
message is clear: honor the memories of the little children of these 
educators by helping to ensure that no other family is forced to endure 
such an unimaginable tragedy.
  It had been unimaginable. Now we have seen it. Now our task is plain. 
We must restore confidence in the safety of our communities by taking 
clear, effective steps to prevent gun violence in our schools, homes, 
and neighborhoods.
  I just read the names and showed the pictures of a few of the people 
whose lives were lost that day. For them and for others and for the 
lives we want to save, again I mention the bipartisan

[[Page 8879]]

Thompson-King, King-Thompson legislation, which means to use this 
anniversary, certainly, to memorialize the victims of Newtown, but also 
to answer the call of their families to give gun violence prevention 
legislation a vote in the Congress of the United States.
  Six months ago in Newtown, a lone gunman took the lives of 26 
Americans. We all know that. It's emblazoned in our minds and in our 
souls. Since then, nearly 5,000 more Americans have fallen victim to 
gun violence. Now in Congress we must summon the courage to act. We 
must take inspiration from the courage of the Newtown families, from 
the courage it has taken to turn their grief into action. We must heed 
the moving words of the Sandy Hook promise: our hearts are broken; our 
spirit is not. As we mark this anniversary, we must uphold our most 
basic responsibility: the oath we take--the oath of office--to protect 
and defend the Constitution and to protect and defend the people of the 
United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague Congresswoman Esty and our 
colleague Congressman Mike Thompson for their leadership in bringing us 
together this morning so that we cannot only remember but so that we 
can have the courage to act.

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