[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 14, 2016)] [Senate] [Pages S3845-S3846] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2016--MOTION TO PROCEED The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion to proceed. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 120, H.R. 2578, a bill making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont. Mr. LEAHY. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. FRANKEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Ayotte). Without objection, it is so ordered. Mass Shooting in Orlando Mr. FRANKEN. Madam President, I rise to address the tragic events in Orlando, FL. In the early hours of Sunday, a gunman walked into Pulse, a popular, crowded LGBT nightclub, on Latin night and opened fire, taking the lives of 49 people and wounding 53 more in an act of terror that has been called the worst mass shooting in American history. It was also the deadliest attack on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community that our Nation has ever known. State and Federal authorities are continuing their investigation into the assailant and what his motives were that night. I believe 44 of the surnames of those who died were Latino. According to the FBI, the shooter had previously been investigated for potential ties to terrorist organizations, and during the attack, the shooter called authorities and pledged his allegiance to ISIL. We must do everything in our power to eradicate this evil, combat recruitment and radicalization, and we must make sure our efforts and our rhetoric do not scapegoat an entire community based on the actions of a single sick individual. The investigation is ongoing, and many details are still emerging, but we know this: The 49 men and women who lost their lives on Sunday night were murdered by a man with hate in his heart--perhaps even hate directed within--and an assault weapon in his hand. Following each and every tragic shooting, one thought haunts me, and that is that we in Congress are failing the American people. We have failed to answer their repeated calls to address gun violence in this country. We have failed to take steps necessary to make our communities safer, and as a result we are complicit in creating the circumstances that give rise to these events. We can't pretend this part isn't on us. Our State of Minnesota has a proud tradition of responsible gun ownership. Generations of Minnesotans have learned to hunt from their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors, but when I speak to constituents on this issue, the message is clear: Minnesotans want Congress to take commonsense steps to reduce gun violence and ensure their family's safety. There is a balance to be struck here, and I strongly believe that we are capable of striking that balance. The Second Amendment doesn't protect the rights of everyone to carry whatever weapon he likes in any place he wishes for whatever purpose he wants. The Second Amendment does not entitle criminals, potential terrorists, or people with serious mental illness to carry guns. It does not entitle Americans to own guns designed to slaughter scores of people in seconds. We can't turn back time. We can't bring back the lives we have lost. But, for God's sake, what is it going to take? How many tragedies like this does this Nation have to endure before we find the moral conviction to do something about gun violence? It is important for us to acknowledge not just how this atrocity was committed but who the gunman targeted, and where. In his remarks on Sunday, President Obama rightly drew the Nation's attention to the site of this most recent tragedy--to Pulse, a gay nightclub that Barbara Poma opened to honor the memory of her brother John, whom she lost to AIDS years earlier. Barbara explained that her family was strict and had a strong sense of tradition. Being gay was frowned upon. Coming out could not have been easy for John, but when he did, his family welcomed him with acceptance and love. Pulse was named for John's heartbeat, and it was a place, according to his sister, where he was ``kept alive in the eyes of his friends and his family.'' In describing the shooting, President Obama explained that ``the place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub--it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights.'' But it is also important to note that, like so many of the bars and nightclubs serving the LGBT community, Pulse was a place where people have come together to feel safe. Like the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City, the birthplace of the gay rights movement, and Bar 19, a pub in Loring Park that has served Minneapolis's gay community since 1952, Pulse was a sanctuary. Not everyone is welcomed by their family and their friends with acceptance and love. Even today, not everyone is able to walk down the street holding the hand of their loved one without fear. For those in search of solidarity in their communities, and for those in search of safety, Pulse provided refuge. Regrettably, even today, that refuge is sorely needed. Despite long overdue victories, leaders in the LGBT movement have perceived an increase in violence directed against their community. LGBT Americans continue to face threats, intimidation, and violence--on the street, in the workplace, and at school. By and large, they remain vulnerable to discrimination. As Americans come together in the days and weeks ahead, as we seek comfort and community at pride celebrations and candlelight vigils, it is incumbent upon all of us, but most especially policymakers, to do everything in our power to change the culture of hate and to pursue a more equal union. It is simply unacceptable that in 28 States, including Florida, there are no protections to prevent a survivor of the Orlando attack from being fired just because he is gay. In 28 States, including Florida, there are no protections to prohibit a homeless shelter from turning away a survivor of the Orlando attack because she is a lesbian. In 29 States, including Florida, there are no protections to prevent a business from refusing service to a survivor of the Orlando attack because she is transgender. That isn't right. This is not who we are as a country, and it must change. Congress must take up and pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act to protect our children--our children--in our schools. And Congress must take up and pass the Equality Act to make clear that discrimination and hate have no place in our workplaces and in our homes. I was around 10 years old at the height of the civil rights movement. My family used to eat dinner watching TV on plates on tray tables, and we would watch the news. And I remember seeing footage of police in the South siccing dogs on Black civil rights demonstrators, going after them with firehoses and billy clubs. I never will forget my dad pointing at our television screen and saying to me and my brother, ``No Jew can be for that.'' No Jew can be for that. It was obvious to him, as it should be to all of us, that when some members of our communities face injustice, we all do. In the face of that pervasive discrimination, that stain on our values and our history, our Nation recognized then, as it should recognize now, that [[Page S3846]] some problems demand a national solution. We must take action to make our communities safe--all of our communities safe. We must engage in these difficult conversations about persistent inequality and about gun violence. And we must dedicate ourselves to securing real change. I implore my colleagues: Let us make our laws our sanctuaries. Let us honor the memory of those lost on Sunday and the lives of those who survived by recognizing our obligation to take action. No Member of Congress can be for this. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I rise today to remember the victims of the terrorist attack in Orlando, FL. Forty-nine people were killed and even more were wounded when a self-proclaimed ISIS sympathizer attacked Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. I can't imagine the trauma experienced by those who were present in the club or the suffering of the families now mourning a beloved son or daughter. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, with the families of the deceased, and with all those currently sitting at the hospital beds of the injured. My thoughts and prayers are also with the people of Orlando, whose sense of security has been shattered by this deadly attack. Every deadly ideology of the last century has been characterized by a fundamental disregard for the sacredness of human life. The form of radical Islam espoused by ISIS and its adherents is no different. Like every radical ideology before it, it regards individual human beings as expendable commodities in its pursuit of a Utopia. More than that, it sees certain individuals as not only expendable but dangerous, and it seeks to exterminate them accordingly. The blood-soaked villages of ISIS-controlled Iraq and Syria bear terrible witness to the slaughter of Christians, Yazidis, moderate Muslims, and anyone else ISIS felt was standing in its way. As a nation, we have to stand against the threat of terrorism. We have to ensure that our military is equipped to destroy terrorist organizations abroad and that our law enforcement personnel are equipped to confront terrorist threats here at home. We need to control our borders and modernize our immigration system so that we know who is coming and who is going from our Nation. We need to invest in our intelligence agencies and hold them accountable as they work to keep our homeland safe. We have to support our allies who are taking the fight to the terrorists. And most of all, we have to show the utter bankruptcy of an ideology that regards human beings as expendable. America has a proud history of standing up for the dignity and freedom of the human person against tyrants of all stripes. We stood against the deadly ideologies of the 20th century, and we will stand against the deadly ideologies of the 21st century. On Sunday morning we saw the darkest side of humanity, but, as so often happens, when we see the worst in human beings, we also see the best--the DJ who helped a patron escape from the club; the man who stuffed his bandana into a bullet hole on a stranger's back to stop the bleeding; the man who pulled a wounded stranger to safety behind a car and then kept him conscious on the way to the hospital; the long lines of Orlando residents who came forward to donate blood; and, of course, the police officers who walked into that club and who wake up every day ready to lay down their lives for the rest of us. Against that spirit, terrorism will never prevail. Our whole Nation grieves with the citizens of Orlando. May God bless and comfort the families of all those who died, and may He heal all those whose hearts are broken. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________