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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today, the Senate will vote on Steve Dettelbach's nomination to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives--better known as ATF.

As I said on the floor yesterday, after describing in horrifying detail the mass shooting in Highland Park on the Fourth of July, we need a confirmed ATF Director now more than ever.

When a mass shooter tears apart a community like Highland Park, IL-- or Buffalo, NY--ATF agents are among the first to arrive on scene. In fact, in the hours following the attack in Highland Park, it was ATF agents who traced the firearm belonging to the confessed shooter. Their investigate work was described by local authorities in Lake County as ``phenomenal.'' I couldn't agree more.

The least we can do to support these heroic agents is confirm a proven leader to head the ATF, which has gone 7 years without a Senate- confirmed Director.

Our country and our communities deserve better. They deserve an ATF that is fully equipped to respond on our Nation's darkest days--and to enforce the laws on the books to prevent these tragedies in the first place.

And Steve Dettelbach is exactly the right leader for this challenge. He is a career prosecutor with decades of experience fighting crime, religion-motivated violence, gun trafficking, and he is a proven consensus-builder with bipartisan support.

The vote on Mr. Dettelbach's nomination is not about a new policy or regulation; it is about enforcing the laws that already exist, and respecting the men and women of ATF who deserve Senate-confirmed leadership. This vote is a pragmatic step all of us can take toward making our communities safer.

Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children. And we have more than one mass shooting per day in America. In the wake of Highland Park, Uvalde, Buffalo, and too many tragedies across America, it is clear that we need experienced and dedicated law enforcement leadership in agencies like ATF. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting Mr. Dettelbach.

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