Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I would like to echo my colleague's sentiment. I think he said it beautifully and perfectly. I think he honored these three brave soldiers really well.

I would like to, of course, join him in recognizing Capt. Seth Koval, Capt. Curtis Angst, and MSgt Tyler Simmons, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States of America and gave their lives for our country.

You see them pictured here. I am a dad of kids that age, and I can't imagine what their mom and dad, their siblings, and family members must be going through. It is far too easy for us to take the blessings of freedom and liberty for granted here in America. We are lucky to live in a stable democracy.

And while our public discourse can sometimes be heated, I look at my colleague from Vermont, and sometimes at the end of the day we leave and we are frustrated and aggravated about why we can't get this or that, I think it is important for us to acknowledge that at the end of the day, we can still break bread together. At the end of the day, we acknowledge, at least we must acknowledge that what unites us is much, much greater than what divides us.

The honest truth is that we live in the luckiest--we are absolutely the luckiest people on earth to live here in the United States of America. We enjoy the blessings of liberty every day, but on days like today, it is important for us to remember why we can live with these liberties, and it is because of the selfless sacrifice of young men and young women, but in this case, three young men, that gave their lives for that.

They signed up, as my colleague from Ohio said, without hesitation. They served honorably, and with incredible sacrifice they gave the ultimate to this Nation. These three Ohioans were the most courageous and selfless individuals of our great Nation.

They were in the National Guard, not for fame, not for fortune, because they always felt ready to be called on to protect and defend our great Nation. As distinguished members of Ohio's National Guard, they answered that call that their unit was activated. They didn't hesitate. They didn't doubt. They didn't worry. They were ready to go and serve, not for themselves, for all of us, every single one of us.

It is their sacrifice that allows us to debate the issues of this democracy every single day.

So when the Senate concludes its business today and each of us goes our own merry way and we sleep in safety and peace, let us not forget that there is a soldier in some distant corner of the world standing watch on our behalf, looking out for us.

And if their families are anything like my family or like my wife, there is a mom waiting by the phone, hoping and praying that they never get the call that these three soldiers' families got.

As we think of those young airmen, Captain Koval, Captain Angst, Master Sergeant Simmons, who put their lives in harm's way for this country. Let us remember these words from the Air Force chaplain's ``Book of Prayers'':

Our Heavenly Father, in this hour of stunned grief, our first reaction is silence. But in our silence, as many airmen before us have done, we turn to you and ask for your presence and reassurance and guidance.

My colleague Senator Husted and I have put together a resolution honoring the families. We will file that tomorrow in the U.S. Senate. We will also fly to the Dover Air Force Base to pay our respects to the airmen in person.

I think what all of us have to do in a moment like this is to understand that, with the issues that we debate here every single day in this Hall--that will live well beyond any of our lifetimes and that existed well before any of us walked the Earth-- we will have the humility to understand the weight of our decision making; that, while, yes--sadly, by the way--politics always plays a role in a political environment, we will take note of how everything we do affects many, many American families.

I would ask at this moment in which we are debating a lot of issues, that we just take one step back and realize, with deep humility, the responsibility we should all feel for these families. When we see these young men, we should realize that the decisions made here in Washington, DC, carry enormous weight and not to be flippant about it and don't think about what it means for a social media post.

These are really important decisions we make here. Thank God we have soldiers like these three young men who were willing to answer the call of this country. As we get into heated debates between Republicans and Democrats and we start posturing and wondering what this group or that group is going to think, let's just take a little moment and realize that, if not for the sacrifice of men like these, we would not even be able to do any of it.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to honor these three men. Hopefully, what this will add during this week that is obviously going to be contentious will be a moment of self-reflection and humility for this Chamber which, I think, is so desperately, desperately needed.

To the moms and dads of these three young soldiers, I can't even process what you are going through. I can't even imagine the emotions that you are feeling. Just know that America is grateful beyond words for the sacrifices that your heroic sons made.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source