Vote on No Fly, No Buy

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, President Calvin Coolidge once said that nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Genius will not. Education will not. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut reminded us of the truth of that statement when, for 15 hours, he stood on the floor of the United States Senate and refused to yield until he got a commitment from the Republican leadership of the Senate to hold a vote on a no fly, no buy piece of legislation to restrict people on the terrorist watch list from buying firearms and also for having a commonsense background check reform which allows Internet sales and gun show sales to be included in the background check system, which is supported by 53 percent of NRA households.

Mr. Speaker, finally, at 2:11 a.m., he got a commitment for those votes. I congratulate him. I am proud of him, as a fellow Connecticut citizen, for the persistence and courage that he demonstrated to the world yesterday on the floor of the United States Senate.

It is time for us now in the House to do the same. We have tried 12 times in the House to force a vote on these measures, which the public is craving by huge majorities. After the events of this last week, it is time for us to listen to Chris Murphy, to follow his example, to thank him for his leadership and persistence and courage. Let's do what the American people are looking for: ways to protect us from these mass shootings of which there are far too many and that are far too damaging to the people of this country.

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