[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9276]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         VOTE ON NO FLY, NO BUY

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, President Calvin Coolidge once said that 
nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will 
not. Genius will not. Education will not. Persistence and determination 
alone are omnipotent.
  Yesterday, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut reminded us of 
the truth of that statement when, for 15 hours, he stood on the floor 
of the United States Senate and refused to yield until he got a 
commitment from the Republican leadership of the Senate to hold a vote 
on a no fly, no buy piece of legislation to restrict people on the 
terrorist watch list from buying firearms and also for having a 
commonsense background check reform which allows Internet sales and gun 
show sales to be included in the background check system, which is 
supported by 53 percent of NRA households.
  Mr. Speaker, finally, at 2:11 a.m., he got a commitment for those 
votes. I congratulate him. I am proud of him, as a fellow Connecticut 
citizen, for the persistence and courage that he demonstrated to the 
world yesterday on the floor of the United States Senate.
  It is time for us now in the House to do the same. We have tried 12 
times in the House to force a vote on these measures, which the public 
is craving by huge majorities. After the events of this last week, it 
is time for us to listen to Chris Murphy, to follow his example, to 
thank him for his leadership and persistence and courage. Let's do what 
the American people are looking for: ways to protect us from these mass 
shootings of which there are far too many and that are far too damaging 
to the people of this country.

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