National Pulse Memorial

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, almost 4 years ago today, I joined with my colleagues and my friend, Congressman John Lewis, in leading a sit-in on this very floor after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.

We could not stand for another moment of silence. We could not stand for another day of inaction. We could not stand for another mass shooting in America.

We sat in protest. The House Democrats stopped the work of Congress because Congress had stopped working for the American people.

Now, 4 years later, our commitment to ending gun violence and hate remains absolute.

Making the Pulse nightclub a national memorial will honor the 49 lives lost in Orlando and will declare that love is love.

Today, during Pride Month, we celebrate these lives and we honor them, but we can't stop there. We need commonsense gun violence prevention measures now.

Within weeks of taking the majority, House Democrats passed two bipartisan gun safety bills. To this day, they remain stalled in the Senate.

COVID-19 is not the only public health crisis in this country. We lose 40,000 Americans a year to gun violence.

We cannot waste another day. We ask the Republicans in the Senate to pass our legislation, end this sickening cycle of gun violence in our country.

Choose love, choose peace, recognize that gun violence is often the lethal partner of racism and bigotry.

With this national memorial, we will have a physical manifestation of our commitment to end gun violence and to have equality for all.

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