Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016--Motion to Proceed--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I am on the floor of the Senate with my colleague from Oregon, Senator Wyden, to share a few thoughts about the tragedy that has occurred in our home State.

One week ago today, a madman turned a quiet fall day in Roseburg, OR, into a day of horror and terror.
What occurred on the grounds of Umpqua Community College is an unspeakable, senseless innocent tragedy--nine innocent lives cut short.

Lucero Alcaraz was just 19 years old. She graduated from Roseburg High School this past year. She had received scholarships that would cover her entire college costs, and she had hopes of becoming a pediatric nurse working with children.

Quinn Cooper, 18 years old, also just graduated from Roseburg High School. Quinn loved dancing and voice acting. He was just on the verge of taking his brown belt test in martial arts.

Lucas Eibel, 18 years old, was a third graduate of Roseburg High School. He was studying chemistry. When he wasn't in school, he played soccer and volunteered at Wildlife Safari animal park and a local animal shelter.

Treven Anspach was 20 years old. He was a talented athlete, and he worked with the Douglas County Fire District when he wasn't in class. His parents referred to him as the ``perfect son.''

Kim Dietz loved the outdoors, her 18-year-old daughter, her two Great Pyrenees dogs, and she worked as a caretaker at the Pyrenees Vineyard.

Jason Johnson was 33 years old. Jason recently turned his life around. After completing a 6-month drug rehab program with the Salvation Army, he decided to continue his education. As his mother said, he had ``finally found his path.''

Sarena Moore. Sarena was in her third semester at Umpqua Community College, studying business. She was an active member of the Grants Pass Seventh-day Adventist Church and the proud mother of two adult sons.

Lawrence Levine was the professor teaching the writing class that was assaulted by the gunman. He loved the blues. He loved fly fishing. Writing was his passion.

Rebecka Carnes. Rebecka graduated just last year from South Umpqua High School. In this picture she is holding a graduation cap, and the graduation cap says ``the adventure begins.'' She was full of zest for the life to come.

These were nine upstanding citizens of the community, nine promising lives cut short. Yet even in tragedy we saw in Roseburg examples of resilience and heroism. The law enforcement officers, the first responders proceeded to act quickly and to act competently.

There were students like Chris Mintz, who was shot five to seven times seeking to stop the gunman. The sheriff, the county commissioners, the mayor, the city manager all made decisions in a flash to respond and to address the unfolding crisis, and they did an incredible job, but there is no job that can repair the damage done, the tear in the fabric of the community or the broken hearts of the families and the community and all Oregonians. This mass shooting will be seared into our memories.

The name Roseburg will be added to a list that includes Charleston, Newtown, Aurora, Oak Creek, Virginia Tech, and Columbine. This is a list of communities and schools that no community or school ever wants to be on.

I was born in Douglas County, in the town of Myrtle Creek. I spent my early childhood there and then in Roseburg. That area is an incredibly beautiful place. It is home to one of the most beautiful rivers in the world, the Umpqua River, and a town that is just the right size, where everyone knows each other and everyone helps each other. I am shocked when I think of the community, that this could happen there.

If this can happen in Roseburg, it can happen anywhere in our country. That is something that becomes evident day after day, week after week. In the course of 2015, there have been 45 shootings in our schools across the country, 18 mass murders, or roughly 1 every 2 weeks. So we grieve the lives lost at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, and we grieve the lives lost in assaults across the country. We will search our souls to ask ourselves how we might diminish the odds of this occurring in another community, and that conversation will take place here in this Chamber in the weeks ahead.

I want to close with recognizing that if we can diminish the opportunity of a disturbed individual to get hold of a gun and we can increase the opportunity for them to get help, there will be fewer tragedies like this.

With that, I turn the floor over to my colleague, Senator Wyden.

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