Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, when I started preparing to give this speech, I must admit I was overwhelmed with emotion. One year ago tomorrow, a brutal attack, fueled by hate, led to the deaths of nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church in my hometown of Charleston, SC.

A year later, the idea that someone's heart could be filled with so much anger and venom is still jarring.

Then, over the weekend, we saw it again. In Orlando, FL, a brutal attack, fueled by hate, led to the deaths of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub. This was an assault against the people of Orlando, the State of Florida, and the United States as a whole.

We can, and we will, have a much longer discussion on ISIS, Islamic terror, and the steps that must be taken in those areas. But today, as Orlando mourns and Charleston remembers, I want to return to 365 days ago and show how, with the world watching, love overcame hate.

On the night of June 17, 2015, I was here in Washington. Much like this week, we were debating the NDAA and our military priorities. But in Charleston, there was a Bible study. Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Myra Thompson, Felicia Sanders and her 5-year-old granddaughter, Polly Sheppard, and my friend, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, had gathered together for a Bible study at Mother Emanuel.

Among them was a young man who was new to Emanuel--a young man they welcomed into their presence with God's love. While they did not and could not possibly see the darkness in his heart, they showed him the loving nature of their own hearts--so much so that he later told police that he almost, almost did not go through with this vicious, vile attack because everyone was so nice to him. But, tragically, almost was not enough.

In an instant, the horrors unleashed by this young man changed South Carolina forever. I remember getting a phone call about 9 o'clock p.m. on that Wednesday night from one of my friends at the Sheriff's office about the shooting at Mother Emanuel. Reports continued to come in, and so I texted my friend, Clementa Pinckney, hoping that he would respond and tell me what was going on at the church.

I am looking at my texts from June 17, 2015, at 10:31 p.m. I asked him: Are you and your parishioners OK? It was met with silence--silence that is still deafening, silence that I will never forget.

He should have been able to text back. He should have been able to go home and see his family, raise his daughters. He should have been able to have gone on and finished his work as a State senator in the statehouse and to continue spreading God's love. As we people of faith know, sometimes things simply don't go as they are planned. But as the families of the Emanuel nine showed you, God had a plan.

Within 48 hours, these men and women set the tone for my grieving city, my grieving State, and my grieving Nation. On Friday morning, about 36 hours later, looking into the killer's eyes, they said to the killer of their family members: ``I forgive you.''

Family member after family member, nine consecutive times, to the shock and the amazement of the world that was watching, said: ``I forgive you.'' Your life can be better in God's hands.

Those of us here today cannot even imagine how hard that must have been--how in their immense grief, these families chose to take this unique path. But they did. We as a nation, as a State, and certainly as a city are forever thankful.

I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to talk to many and all of the families at some point. I continue to be amazed at their grace, their dignity, and their righteousness. They have truly been the rock on which we all stand. In the days and weeks after the shooting, Charleston and South Carolina came together like never before. As the clergy and parishioners at Mother Emanuel said after the attack: ``Wrong church, wrong people, wrong day.''

It was the wrong place to try and sow the seeds of discord. It was the wrong people to try and break their faith and the wrong day to try and bring down the people of South Carolina.

Last summer, we saw chapters of history close and new ones open. While the debate over the Confederate flag may be the most widespread symbol of Emanuel's aftermath, the actions and words of folks across Charleston and South Carolina are the most enduring.

Looking ahead, we have come so far, but we certainly still face many challenges. It is going to take a lot of effort and strength to stand together in times of division. It is going to be hard sometimes in a world that is too often so full of hate to know that we are still taking steps forward, and it is going to require a continuing conversation on issues that are uncomfortable for some but necessary for all.

So where are we headed from here? Three words show where I believe that we, as a nation, are headed. These three words show where I believe we, as a nation, must head. They are simple words--words found in 1 Corinthians 13: faith, hope, and love. We saw these in abundance throughout South Carolina over the past year, and they remain our final goal.

As I head back to Charleston tonight, I will be thinking about the events honoring the Emanuel nine tomorrow. I am certain there will be tears--lots of tears. There will be moments, as there have been in the last few minutes, when it will be hard to speak, to truly show what all of this means to all of us, but the world will also see this from Charleston, SC: They will see that you can cannot destroy love with hate and that you cannot kill the spirit. We have not been torn down by this fury of hate, but instead we will continue to build a bridge, brick by brick, to a future without hate, a future filled with faith, hope, and love.

I will close by asking one more time, as I did a little more than a year ago in this very same place for a moment of silence to remember Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Myra Thompson, and my good friend and former State Senator, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney.

You are forever in our hearts.

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