Expressing Sense of House Regarding Arizona Shooting

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, this weekend we honor a truly historic American who, through unyielding struggle, bent the trajectory of our Nation closer to justice. ``Violence ..... solves no social problems,'' that man, Dr. Martin Luther King--himself a victim of violence--wrote. ``It only creates new and more complicated ones.'' The shootings in Arizona remind us of the truth of these words. They show that the world is still a dangerous place for those who stand up for civic duty.

I do not have to tell this body that Gabby Giffords has been an exemplary Member of this House. As a small businesswoman in her earlier career, she has worked hard to see that the economic concerns of Arizona's families are heard in Washington. As one of the growing number of women Members here, she has been a powerful voice on immigration reform, energy independence, reducing drug trafficking and cartel violence along the border, and the continued importance of exploring the stars.

As a third-generation Tucsonian, she has brought an Arizonan's love of the sun to her advocacy of renewable energy and the benefits of solar power for all Americans.

More importantly, however, Gabby is an exemplary person. She is fun to be with. She is a dear friend of mine, a friend to my family--my stepdaughter, Anna Greenberg, is her pollster--and I know that, wherever you stand in this Chamber, she was a friend to you. She never had anything but a smile for anyone, left or right.

For this, simply for serving her constituents to the best of her ability, she was shot in the line of duty.

At this very moment, she fights for life in Arizona--a life that has already been cruelly denied six others in this tragedy, including a longtime officer of the court, a staffer just like the young men and women we rely on every day, and a little 9-year-old girl.

The troubled individual who perpetrated this evil is now in custody, and time will tell what moved him to commit this unspeakable act. Yet, for those of us here in this room, we all have to do more to drain our politics of the venom where such hatred breeds.

At this moment, above all, I pray for Gabby's recovery and for the others I do not know, and I mourn those who were lost.

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