Speeches

Tonight, we celebrate great music and renew our commitment to the vision of Sustainable Development Goals.

“Good afternoon, everyone. This is a very special occasion indeed. I’m honored to join our Speaker, Paul Ryan, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Leader of the Senate, and the distinguished Senators and Congress Members who are here to celebrate this new addition to our Capitol.”

This is a beautiful picture of Mark. Thank you, Congresswoman Gabbard, for bringing us together in this Special Order to salute a very special person, our colleague, Mark Takai. It is a solemn privilege for all of us today to give voice to the sorrow of the U.S. Congress at the passing of our colleague and dear friend. We’ve lost someone truly special, a person who held the respect and friendship of colleagues on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol, up and down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ninety one people lose their lives to gun violence every day. That is not a statistic. That is an outrage. It is a challenge to the conscience of our nation to end Congress’ appalling inaction on gun violence prevention.

So, Congress has refused to provide the robust emergency resources urgently needed. Governors of both parties have been some of the most powerful voices for the need for Congress to act on these public crises.

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks today on the House floor on House Republicans’ inaction on commonsense gun violence legislation ahead of the seven-week recess.  Below are the Leader’s remarks: “Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.  In the course… Continue

“While you may say, ‘Flint is in Michigan and Zika’s down south,’ the fact is: it affects all of us. But, opioids are right there in all of our communities. And all of the Members of Congress immediately see the need for the authorization, but also for the funding. The Conference Report includes many important authorizing provisions in a bipartisan way, but it does not include the new funds that are essential to saving lives from opioids.”

The ambush and murder of police officers during a peaceful protest is a tragedy that tears it at the heart of every American. I agree with the Speaker that episodes like this must not harden our divisions but should unify us as a country. We are all horrified by this despicable act of violence and we share in the shock and grief for the officers killed, their loved ones and the entire Dallas community. When these officers left their homes earlier in the day, there’s always the chance that they would be in danger. Right now we don’t even know the names of all of them. The names have not yet been released, but I do want to acknowledge DART officer Brent Thompson and those whose names have yet to be released, as well as those who were wounded, including one civilian.”

So, respectfully, I ask our Speaker of the House to give us a vote to enable us to show the support that commonsense, sensible gun safety legislation has in this House.

That state from Seneca Falls to this Summit today, we know we stand on the shoulders of giants. We have all gathered here, because we understand this indisputable truth about our country: when women succeed, America succeeds!