National Pulse Memorial
Floor Speech
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Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank you and him for making this important memorial possible for us today.
I rise to solemnly join my colleagues to honor the 49 beautiful souls murdered 4 years ago in an unfathomable act of hatred and bloodshed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
I thank Congressman Darren Soto for giving us this opportunity of observing and for being a voice for peace and healing for all of those affected.
Pulse was a peaceful haven where young LGBTQ Americans could enjoy music, dancing, and celebration, knowing they were in a sanctuary of safety and solidarity.
Pulse was a monument to joy, a tribute to resilience and pride born out of the grief that Barbara Poma experienced after losing her brother, John, to AIDS. That was her motivation for starting that.
May the grief that we experience now at the loss of 49 who were murdered move us to turn our pain into purpose. This poster is all of them.
But some time after the terrible tragedy, we stood on the steps of the Capitol, holding their individual pictures. At that time, we said: We will never forget.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to keep that promise to turn pain into purpose.
Shortly after the horrific act of hatred at Pulse, I had the solemn privilege of traveling to Orlando and meeting with survivors and families who had lost loved ones. Their message to the Congress, to a person that I met with there, was: Please, do something to stop gun violence.
Yet, painfully, since that tragic night, the horror that we saw in Orlando has been replicated in countless other communities across the country. In too many places, the epidemic of gun violence has killed too many innocent people and left too many families suffering unimaginable pain and loss.
As one of the first actions of our majority last year, the House took action to end the bloodshed by passing H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, H.R. 8 so designated because it had been 8 years since the assault on the life of our colleague Gabby Giffords.
She survived. She is doing remarkable things, in terms of trying to end gun violence. But other people died. Hence, H.R. 8, as it was 8 years since. Then, H.R. 1112 was Mr. Clyburn's legislation to address what happened in South Carolina.
485 days, nearly 500 days, later, we continue to urge the Senate to take up this legislation, supported broadly, Democrats, independents, Republicans, gun owners, hunters, many of whom have had to pass background checks in order to have their guns and to enjoy their sport and protect themselves. They are not against background checks. Across the country, this has broad support, nonpartisan support.
Yet, in the Congress of the United States, there is resistance to that safety of simply commonsense background checks. It isn't as if we were starting something new. This is just an expansion of the background checks that already exist to include gun shows and online sales, et cetera, just an expansion.
I remind my colleagues that an average of 100 people die every day from gun violence. Let me restate, it has been almost 500 days since the House passed those bills and the Senate has failed to take it up-- almost 500 times 100 a day.
We see the consequences. Not that all of them would have been saved, but some, many, would have. Many have been saved since the original background check legislation passed.
Four years later, 4 years after Pulse, our grief remains raw. But our resolve to end the deadly scourge of gun violence and hatred-- discrimination, that it was about, too--remains unwavering.
Strengthened by the memories of those who were lost to gun violence-- 49 souls here, and so many others--inspired by the spirit of hope that we celebrate during Pride Month, especially this weekend, let us never relent in our mission to end the horror of gun violence once and for all and end discrimination against anyone in our community.
Madam Speaker, I thank and commend Mr. Soto, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.
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