sometimes there are issues that find you. when i was elected to the united states senate last november i never imagined my main speech would be about guns or gun violence. just like i never cut out imagined that i would be standing here in the wake of 20 little kids having died in sandy hook or six adults who protected them. but sometimes issues find you. so here i am. i am pleased to have the majority leader and majority whip and so many of my colleagues on the floor with me here today. i want to start with the unpleasant parts. i take it is important for all of my colleagues to understand why we're having this debate in next week about gun violence. why for the first time we were able to break the logjam and

started doing something about the gun violence that has plagued this nation. to just box your ears and pretend it did not happen. just pretend it did not -- it is not here. it is here. the next new town names are does waiting to be added to the list if we do nothing. here is what we do. sometime in the early morning hours of december 14, a very disturbed, reclusive man named adam lanza went into his mother's arms and shot her dead in her sleep. a few minutes later, maybe hours later, he got in her car and drove to sandy hook elementary

school. into the school and began a 10 minute rampage that left 20 children, all six and seven-year-olds and adults who cared for them, dead. he got off 154 rounds from a gun that could shoot up to six bullets per second. that high-powered gun ushered every single child that he d shot, died. was shot 11 times alone. the state medical examiner said he had never seen anything like it. courageously hit in a classroom cause of by her teacher who shielded her children from the bullets and died that day. five other kids ran out of the

room when lanza had trouble freeloading. five kids alive today because this should -- the shooter had to switch ammunition magazines. whether it is trouble he had reloading again when the police were coming into the building, he turned the weapon on himself in the massacre ended, but not before 26 people were dead. and that is the reality. the worst reality is this, if we did not do something right now, it will happen again. is happening everyday. soone who has gotten callously used to gun drops it is raindrops, background news, 30 that reality we're losing per day to violence.

unreadableost because it is thousands. that reality is just unacceptable is what happened in sandy hook that day. the question is, what we do anything about it? serious abouty doing our jobs, we cannot. outside the belt -- the beltway, this is not a debate. 87 percent of americans thinks we should have universal background checks. in two-thirds of americans think we should restrict high-capacity ammunition clips. 76 percent of americans believe we should crack down on people who buy guns legally and go out and sell them in the community illegally. the american public knows we have to do something here. why have we been stuck for so long?

beenrs of congress have listening to wrong people. come --d be listing to gun owners. the problem is the nra does not speak for gun owners like it used to. we listen to that organization more than we should. today they oppose this background checks. even 74 percent of american member support universal background checks. i did not know the exact reason for that, but maybe because increasingly is financed not by its members, but by the gun industry. of dollarslions coming into the program. a program that allows the nra to make a couple of bucks off of every gun that is sold in many gun stores across the country. we're not listening to gun

owners, and if we were, this would not be a debate. we're really botched a conversation in this place about rights. hear when i am back home in connecticut a lot of people talking about the right to bear arms as an unalienable right or god-given right. the constitution makes no such claim. a phrase we know very well. we hold these truths to be self evident. created equal. the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. liberty is not just about having any gun you want, anytime you want it. causes you about -- to be right about that individual violence.

-- we are talking about those kids being trapped by an assault-wielding weapons madman. what kind of a liberty does a kid up the street from here who fears for his like every time he wants to walk to the corner store after school? that is not the kind of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that our forefathers talked about. to what degree are the liberties really infringed upon if we suggest there is a handful of weapons that are too dangerous to own? just saying we need to reload the automatic weapon after 10 bullets rather than 30, how greatly to we really risk hearing it when we so moderately restrained the size of the legally purchasable clip?

preserving the lives of innocent kids has gone away pretty favorably. on that, whate can we agree on? the policy prescription is pretty simple. guns should be available, but they should be available to people with sound mind and a criminal records. we have had about 2 million people who are stopped from buying guns because they were legally prohibited to do so. the brady bill has worked, the problem is 40% of weapons sold in this country does not go through background checks. i hope we will have good news by the end of the day on this aont, but an easily irian small number of guns -- but it is an easy promise. a small number of guns are

easily obtainable. some are reserved for military hands. others can be in the hands of private citizens. we know assault weapons killed. non-legal gun crimes dropped by an equal percentage when we banned guns. easilysome ammunition enables mass slaughter. what legitimate reason is there for someone to be able to walk into a movie theater or school with 100-round drum ammunition. why do we need that? 100, never mind 30. that does not sound too radical does it. what does the gun lobby and tell us about these ideas? the data is supported by people all across the country. specifically we hear two things

over and over again. the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun and second, guns do not really kill people, people kill people. one of the reasons why she own guns what she wanted guns to protect herself. she was alone a lot of the time. guns that nancy lanza used were not used to fire upon intruders in her home, the killed her and 26 other boys and girls and parents. that is a reflection of the statistical trend. and if you own a gun, it is much more likely to be used to kill intohen someone breaking your home. the guns do not kill people, they and able people to kill

people. guns are employing 4 percent of felonies. becomes enabled violence that is vastly more violent. how do we know this? we know what happened in sandy hook that day. we know it by what happened that the very same day on the entire other side of the world. on that same day that 20 kids own, in new towtwo, and into a schoollked and killed 23 children. kids who were 20 attacked by. in china all 23 lives. why? because in china the assailant had a knife.

not a gun that could spray six bullets per second. if i choose to ignore the president of the nra that choose to ignorehe lawwe are debating this week and next week when he said all we're talking about here is feel-good legislation. , its right about one thing really good it daniel daniel bardon got on the bus to go to school. he was an immensely passionate young kid. he never let the room without turning the lights off. when his family would go to the grocery store, they would leave the store, get halfway across the parking lot and he was not there because he was still

holding the door open. it would feel really good if [inaudible] could still sing the song she loved. she came from are really musical family. the mom said that she did not walk anywhere. her preferred mode of transportation was dancing. she loved most to sing and dance in church. she loved it when her parents read to her from the bible. good it feel really been wheeler got to enjoy the beautiful spring day outside. -- ben wheeler. you know what he really just loved? fleeing outside with his older brother nate. the morning he was killed, he

told his mom as they were leaving for school that he wanted to be a paleontologist when he grew up. he said that is what need is going to be. i want to do everything that nate does. tell -- show all the naysayers that we cannot do this. that we will not change the way things are. i believe we can. i believe we're good enough to drown out the voices of the status quo and political consultants. i believe in the next couple of weeks we are good enough to change the way things are. finally, i want to tell you one laughs -- one last tory. when we see people in need, when we see people trip -- stripped of their dignity, we are to passionate of people to close our eyes. i know sometimes you wonder what we are inside. are we truly good or is it a

learned behavior? it may sound strange, but after december 14 i know the former to be true. after and during the shooting, is it to swallow up the 10 minutes of evil? edfinite kindness rain dow down on those in newtown. the millions of act of humanities and gas and phone calls that came on in from the rest of the world. because of anne-marie murphy there was a special education teacher charged with the care of this little boy, a wonderful, a gentle six-year-old boy who was living with autism but doing great. anne-marie love dylan and

unloved and rebec. there was a picture on his refrigerator of it and read. anne-marieion loved back. dillon's mother, who is here this week said when she realized dylan would not show up the fire house with the rest of the kids, she hoped she would see mrs. murphy. she knew she would not. she knew he would not leave his side if she were in it -- if he were in danger, and she did not. when the bullets started flying, dillion into herlea arms. she held him tight, and that is just how they were found. down toy, nichole flew washington with myself and

president obama to make the case that things need to change for -marie in themari thousands of others to compare to make a difference. one mother raised a piece of paper above her head with a note she scribbled on it that day. the cameras caught the moment. the note said it simply, loved winds. i believe today more than ever have before that if we are truly doing our job here in this chamber, then love has to win. love has to win every single time. >> i yield the floor. >> the senator from connecticut. mr. president, thank you.

i want to congratulate my colleague from connecticut on his profoundly eloquent and powerful statement to our and join him in calling attention to the horrific tragedy that has brought us to this point in the debate on gun violence. his very eloquent and powerful summary of the losses i think is pointto begin a turning after newtown, conn., has given us a call to action. it is a tipping point in this debate. my colleague and i have spent literally days and weeks with the community. robert we have seen the courage and strength that they have brought.

we have been meeting with the colleagues, and they are indeed here today. father david is here to say. -- is here today. [inaudible] , her mother and father are here today. mother isughtly, his here. age 6.lewis, his father is here. the sixerlock, one of educators, killed off. her husband, bill, is here today. we can draw inspiration not only from the memories of those children and great educators

that were killed here, but from their strength and resilience and resolve in coming to the halls of this building, melding with the colleagues at this very with our colleagues looking human eyes and saying how can you not approve of bill that stops illegal trafficking, strengthen school safety, imposes a requirement for criminal background checks. how can you not stop assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that were integral to the killing. how could you not do something about gun violence that has caused more than 3000 deaths since then. how can you not allow a vote? how can you deprive the american

people of a vote on a measure that is so essential to their the futures-being, of their children and community. and as the president of the united states has said so eloquently and his leadership has been so important because, the victim's of tucson, colorado, virginia tech -- they deserve a vote. the likelihood of a boat has been increased by the leadership of my colleagues. umy tor schumer, mansion, to m will work hard to bring us to a constructive turning point in this process. ourkt to than leader, senator harry reid, for his determination and resolve. on the morning parents

throughout connecticut and new town in sandy hook brought their children to school. and sandyhook brought their children to school. holiday parties, christmas, and konica trees. songs and poems. those where the memories. the future's they brought with them. just hours later, i was at sandy as 20 families of those children emerged from a firehouse, and i will never forget the cries of pain and grief that i saw on that day.

i went there as a public official, because i felt a responsibility to be there. but what i saw was through the eyes of the parent as all america did on that day. i solve the families also of six heroic educators who perished trying to save their children. changeights and sounds america. we are different today than we were before sandyhook. this problem is with us. the same problem has existed for decades, but we are different, because we know we can and must do something about it. there was evil in that day, but there was also great goodness. of the first responders to stop the shooting through the bravery when they appeared at the school.

the courage and bravery of the clergy. who that evening conducted a vigil that we attended when many resolved to light candles instead of curse the darkness. the greatness of leadership demonstrated by many of the public officials beginning with the first alleged woman, the legislators who passed in connecticut a measure that will provide a model for the country. and the leadership of our course, thed of great goodness of the educators cradledw themselves young people seeking to save them heroically gave their lives.

courage andof leadership should inspire us at this critical moment. they should inspire us to think better and do better and resolve that we will not let this moment pass. we will seize this opportunity, and we will demonstrate the kind of leadership that the majority of americans expect and deserve and need at this point. the majority of americans want common-sense measures to stop gun violence. the majority of americans want a boat and they want action from this body have, and we need to alsofaith with them, and the victims. the victim's that should not be forgotten. the connecticut affect is not going away. this resolved is not dissipating. we will keep faith with them. out of that, the unimaginable horror of that day, and the days

since then. countryved that this will be better and safer. , ass we begin this debate colleagues of ours at this moment announced a very promising compromise that may lead us forward, provide us with a path toward bipartisan action and should be bipartisan -- there is nothing republican or democrat about law enforcement or about law enforcement saving people's lives. we should resolve to go forward as one country. i have been working on this issue for many years. and i helped to author and support connecticut's first assault weapons ban in the early 1990's. it wonto court to defend

a was challenge constitutionally. argued in the trial, and then of the state supreme court to uphold law. i have worked with law enforcement colleagues for three decades. know that they support these measures. the state and local police are -- [unintelligible] support high-capacity magazines. because they know those are the weapons of war. to outgune criminals them. they put their lives at risk. so i listened to my colleagues and law-enforcement tell me we need to do something about gun violence. i listened to the people of

connecticut who say can't we do something about the guns? i respect the rights of gun owners, the second amendment is a lot of the land, and none of these proposals would take guns responsibleands of and lawful gun owners. but there are some people who should not have them. there are some of guns that should not be in use. ware are some weapons of that should not be sold in this country. half of the mass killings high-capacity magazines enabled the shooting that occurred so rapidly and easily. the changing of the magazine by and shooter enabled

children to escape. in tucson, the killing of a nine-year-old girl, christina taylor, by the 13th of what would not have happened if the magazine had been limited to 10 rounds because the shooter was tackled as he tried to change magazines. the high-capacity magazines to fire 100m lanza but the four bullets in five minutes. so these kinds of common-sense measures may not prevent all of these tragedies. they may not enable all of us to stop all of the 3000 killings that have occurred since then. we cannot look back and say for certainty that it would not have occurred if these measures had been in place, but the likelihood would have been

reduced for some or all of those children might be alive today. some of those heroic educators could be in their classrooms now. the challenge here is to save lives, to do something to stop the carnage and killing on our streets, in our neighborhoods, communities. a quintessential doing clint town. if it could happen in newtown, it could happen anywhere in america. as we go forward in the debate, why i hope we will listen to those brave and resilience and families that are here today. listen to them when they say to that we must keep pace. nichole haughtly

and what she said when the president of the united states visited a few days ago. she said now there is no going back for me, there is no way. if you want to protect your children, if you want to avoid this loss, you will not turn away either. i asked my colleagues, let us face this reality. let us not turn away. let us resolve to go forward, and keep faith with the children and educators who by their example, provide us with an enormous and historic opportunity to make america safer and better -- the nation that we love, the nation that we all believe is the greatest in the history of the world and will be greater still after we move forward to make it safer

and better. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. senators joe manchin an dpat toomey announced done background checks expansion yesterday. -- and pat toomey. the senate will vote on whether to move forward with gun legislation later today. this is 18 minutes. >> good morning. i'm going to be covering up some people's phones here. i hope i don't -- let me just say good morning to all of you. i'm very, very proud to be here with my good friend, pat toomey, from my sister state of pennsylvania and west virginia we're side by side. we come from states that have deep-rooted cultures, as you know, and we believe very strongly in that.

i also want to give special thanks to two people who weren't here today who have been invaluable to this process and have worked from the beginning trying to find common ground and that is senator chuck schumer, my good friend, mark kirk. mark has never left. chuck and his staff and all of them that worked so hard, i thank everybody. the staffs do yeomen's job. i also want to thank tom coburn. tom has been invaluable to the process. also coming from the culture we come from and have great input all the way through this process. thent to make it clear from start that this is a start and this is not the end of our work. we still have a lot to do. we have an agreement, pat and i have an agreement with senator kirk and senator schumer. we have an agreement on an amendment to prevent criminals and the mentally ill and insane from getting firearms and harming people.

that's extremely important for all of us. also, we agree that we need a commission on mass violence. this commission is going to be made up with people of expertise, people who have expertise in guns, people who have expertise in mental illness, people who have expertise in school safety and people who have expertise in video violence. we have a culture of violence and we have a whole generation who basically has been desensitized. if you go around and talk to the young people today it is what it is. we have got to find out how we can change and reverse that. we also need to protect legal gun owners, legal gun owners like myself and pat who basically cherish the second amendment rights that we have. and we have done that also, but today is the start of a healthy debate that must end with the senate and house, hopefully passing these commonsense measures and the president signing it into law. back home where i come from we have commonsense, we have nonsense and now we have gunsense, and that's what we are talking about.

the events at newtown, truly the events at newtown changed us all. it changed our country, our communities, our towns and it changed our hearts and minds. this amendment will not ease the pain, it will not ease the pain of the families who lost their children on that horrible day, but nobody here, and i mean not one of us in this great capitol of ours with a good conscious would not sit by and try to prevent a day from that happening again. americans on both sides of the debate can and must find common ground. that's what pat and i have been working on and what we've been able to do. today's agreement is the first step in a common ground that all of us agree with crucial to keep guns out of dangerous hands and to keep our children safe. this is a bipartisan movement. it's a bipartisan amendment, and we all know that a bipartisan solution is a lasting solution, but nobody here in good conscious could sit by and not

prevent a day that's happened at newtown from ever happening again. i can't say enough about my friend, pat toomey, and i just appreciate him so much for working as hard and his staff doing what they've done and for us coming together today. with that i'd like to introduce my great friend, pat toomey, from the great state of pennsylvania. >> thank you, senator manchin. i, too, want to commend senator manchin for what he's put in this a long time. our staff have worked hard as well. we'll continue to work together i hope on many things. i also want to mention the terrific work that senator kirk has done on this. he's been an invaluable asset and important voice on this discussion and i appreciate that. let me say, pennsylvania has a long bipartisan tradition of supporting gun rights, and i've been proud to be part of that

tradition and i continue to be. i'm a gun owner and the rights that are enshrined in the second amendment are very, important to me personally as i know they are to so many people across pennsylvania. my record shows this. i've got to tell you candidly i don't consider criminal background checks to be gun control. i think it's just common sense. if you pass a criminal background check, you get to a gun. no problem. it's the people who fail a criminal or a mental health background check that we don't want having guns. now, my time in public life i have not taken a very high- profile role on this issue. i spend most of my time and energy focusing on policies that will help generate economic growth and job creation and put us on a path to -- us on a sustainable fiscal path. i'm here standing with senator manchin because over the last few months several things became apparent to me.

legislationt gun appeared destined to reach the senate floor. it's not something i sought but i think it's something that's inevitable. second thing is it became apparent there are a number of gun control proposals that i think actually would infringe second amendment rights, and i will tell you categorically that nothing in our amendment would not hurt people from getting guns. there was the danger we might end up accomplishing nothing and not making progress where we could so that's when i started talking with senator manchin and senator kirk and others to see if we can find a place where there's some common ground and i think we found it. and the common ground rests on a simple proposition and that is

that criminals and the dangerously mentally ill shouldn't have guns. i don't know anyone who disagrees with that premise. from either political party or whatever folks' views might be on broader gun rights issues. so if we start with the notion that dangerous criminals and dangerously mentally ill people shouldn't have guns, the question is how can we accomplish that? now, background checks are not a cure-all by any means but they can be helpful. in the 10-year period from 1999 to 2009, 1.8 million gun sales were blocked by the current background check system because people were not qualified to own a gun. now i've supported background checks in the past. i support them now. they already exist, of course, for the purchase of guns from licensed dealers. in pennsylvania, in fact, they already exist for all handgun purchases.

if it passes what our measure will do it will expand background checks for purchases of firearms at gun shows and over the internet. it would not require record keeping by any private citizen. the fact is the national law we have had and pennsylvania's experience have done nothing to restrict the lawful ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens and neither will our amendment. we hear sometimes about background checks leading to an erosion of our second amendment rights, that simply hasn't happened. i am going to make sure it doesn't. i also should point out that this amendment is a genuine compromise. in addition to extending background checks, it includes the number of measures that help to secure second amendment rights of gun owners, some items that gun owners have long sought. the bottom line for me is this, if expanding background checks to include gun shows and internet sales can reduce the

likelihood of criminals and mentally ill people from getting guns and we can do it in a fashion that does not infringe on the second amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, then we should do it and in this amendment i think we do. thanks very much. >> what we'll do is we'll take some questions and you can direct them however you want to direct them. >> senator, can you tell us how you have communicated with the n.r.a., what discussions you've had and do you expect them having an opinion, support of not support of your amendment? >> i can't speak with the n.r.a. i have been in constant dialogue and i'm sure pat has too. we take all sides into consideration. when you have senator schumer coming to the table wanting to see something progressively turned to move in the right direction, and also the direction he will come from, but to be able to work and sit down with us and from me -- with me from the beginning, having the n.r.a. sitting there, all people on all sides of the gun issue, knowing what pat has said all we're trying to do is basically saying if you go to a gun store today you're subjected to a background check.

basically a lot of the states haven't done the work they should have done. we're going to make sure they do. there's incentives and penalties. next off, if you go to a gun show you'll be treated the same as if you went to a gun store, subjected to a background check. if you go online you will be subjected the same as you are if you buy a gun online in another state. these are the things we're doing. we brought everybody to the table. we've spoken to the n.r.a. i can't tell you what their position is, but i can tell you we've done the things that pat just said we did. we've strengthened basically the rights of law-abiding gun owners like myself and pat to be able to exercise our second amendment right, but we've also i think done a tremendous favor citizens of our great country on background checks, expanding them to keep people's guns from people that shouldn't have them.

people that have been criminally adjudicated and mentally adjudicated. >> senator, are you worried, senator toomey, doing a risky a rating to the n.r.a., does that matter to you? >> what matters to me is doing the right thing and i think this is the right thing and i think most pennsylvanians will agree that making it more difficult for criminals and mentally ill people to obtain guns is the right thing to do, securing the rights of law- abiding citizens is the right thing to do so that's most important to me. >> are you worried your rating -- >> let me just say -- >> are you going to get more republicans on this amendment beyond yourself and senator kirk, do you believe you can attract other republicans? >> i've had conversations with several of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but i can't speak for them yet. i think it's too soon to know how people will vote on this. >> do you have confirmation from senator reid, and is it included in the bill --

>> we have been promised and confirmed that our amendment will be the first amendment that goes on the bill. >> secondly, included in the bill guarantee that at least the two of you will vote for this bill on final passage and will encourage others to do so? >> i intend to support it with this. i cannot support it without the amendment that pat and i have worked on. >> i don't predict how i'm going to vote on a measure that isn't defined yet. since this might very well, and i hope it will be an open amendment process, i don't know which amendments will succeed or fail so i'll make my final judgment when i see the final product. >> can you talk about what the reaction has been to your plan from your fellow republicans? what do they say to you? >> well, it's ranged. there are some people that are very interested in learning more and they're interested and they are openly considering whether they might embrace this approach. others are very not interested.

it kind of runs the gamut. >> are you saying all private sales or some private sales? two people that don't know each other -- >> let me make it very clear, what we have done, if you go to a gun show, that's -- you have to do all background checks and have to be recorded with an f.f.f., a federal firearms licensed dealer, the same thing if you go to a gun store. that would be a licensed dealer. if you go online, the same. other than that, no. personal transfers are not touched whatsoever. all personal transfers are not touched whatsoever. we've done these, too, and we've done them and done them right. >> senator toomey, you mentioned there were items in there that were expanding gun rights and i want to hear more about that. >> the way i would characterize it is securing gun rights. i think we distributed a list. i will give you a couple of examples.

occasionally happens that a law- abiding citizen who has every legal right to own a weapon is transporting it from one state to another, maybe going hunting, maybe he's bringing it to his son or daughter, he's transporting it in the proper fashion but he has to go across a state that might require a license, for instance, he doesn't have a license in that state and sometimes that maybe he has to stop for gas or stay overnight in a hotel, that person shouldn't be subject to criminal prosecution when he's doing something that's really lawful. second example i'll give you and there are others. current law forbids active duty military personnel from buying a gun in their own state. i think that's terrible policy. they are only permitted to buy a gun in the state which they are stationed. what we would do is change that and allow an active duty military folks to buy a gun in their home state. so that's just two examples. >> right back here. >> both senators, in the past you've expressed and he have' worked for national concealed-

carry reciprocity. you've touched upon a little bit, senator toomey. is this the first step towards national reciprocity for conceal-carry for you? >> yes. i support it. i hope we get there. >> it gives us better control, if you will. it really gives us better control and treats people fair. you can't look -- pat and i and somebody of you who are law- abiding gun owners and enjoy going hunting and shooting like we do, we can't assume people because we enjoy that -- the second amendment rights that we have that there's something wrong. we'll make sure we do it in a safe manner and we'll treat it fairly. with that, this goal is to make sure that the people that shouldn't have them are not going to have access to the guns through a gun show, internet sales or at the gun store as we do now. >> there would be a process like this. 700 people up in la guardia and j.f.k. airport who are carrying guns when they travel, this bill

would create a mechanism if they are caught? >> if they have a permit to carry and go through an extensive background check to get a conceal-carry, then they will be treated as law-abiding citizens and not as criminals just because they are in a state that doesn't accept that. >> what do you think the prospects are for this amendment on the senate floor, and should the senate pass something, what are the prospects in the house? >> my answer is i don't know. i'm looking forward to the debate. i'm hopeful, but i think this is a fluid situation and it's hard to predict. >> let me just say this, i have spoken this morning with all of my friends in the gun -- in the gun state of west virginia, the

gun culture of west virginia, the people who appreciate and enjoy the rights that they have and i explained by detail what the bill does. and i think i have support from who would be the most critical gun advocates as anybody in the country. they understand this is common sense. this is gun sense. we are not infringing on the rights of an individual citizen, but basically if you are going to go to a gun show you should be subjected to the same as if you went to the gun store. if you're going to go online you should be the same as if you brought the gun across state lines the same as you are in state, intrastate versus interstate. this makes sense. and having a commission on mass violence, talk to your children who are watching these video games today, talk to the people at newtown, basically, and i -- if we had bulletproof glass could we have prevented it? these aren't things we've taken into consideration before. there are -- why are we not treating mental illness? >> have you reached out to house republicans or people in the philadelphia suburbs about supporting this? >> i have had several consideration conversations with

some of our house colleagues and there are a substantial number of house people that agree with this. they want to look at specifics of the legislation. there are those in the house that support this. thank you very much. >> thank you so much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the senate continues discussion on gun violence. they will take a procedural vote this morning on whether to move the gun bill forward. a bipartisan agreement was reached between joe mansion and pennsylvania republican patt toomey considered as an amendment to the bill. live coverage of the senate at 9:30 eastern on cspan 2. andlizabeth sporticus

evelien liu for third prize middle school winners on the competition. >> extensive budget cuts have been made in education. >> school of the take a hit when the economy suffers. >> young people, even students themselves are causing -- calling for a change. the achievement gap between the poor and rich school grows. the government is trying to solve this problem by passing laws and creating programs -- programs such as title one. according to the u.s. department of education the purpose to is it sure all students have a fair and equal opportunity to achieve a high-quality education. the point of title one is to

close the achievement gap. elementary and secondary education act of 1995 requires that services provided in title localhools from state and funds be at least come comparable to those provided in non-title one schools. >> the correlation between [no audio] inside the white house, one and areve children in america

homeless or living in poverty. [no audio] progress in new social and intellectual settings. [no audio] montgomeryght in county for 26 years and currently teaching all subjects to fourth graders. it so really did not feel much in the classroom. because i teach at a title one at a school, title one that

schools get a lot of funding. so i have not seen s huge decrease in funding where we have seen a decrease, it has been in the number of hours for para educators. there were times when we would have parent educators all day long, and now they have cut their hours to four hours. that is where they begin the cuts. title one schools received more funding, those that did not qualify often did not receive enough funding. the government has done more than enough to try to increase the quality of education and the united states. the government has set up other programs to pass title one to help with the problem such as no trial but behind act. this is a reauthorization of the elementary and secondary education act. -- no child left behind act. this does raise questions and problems in numerous educators

of notes. culture ofated a conversation, which meant we were now all talking about this issue. you have all children being successful. i think the problem has come in with the rules and regulations around it. the stress on test scores. the pressure they put on teachers to bring up the touch scores. >> how you're going to do in school based on the way you look or which group you belong to, and we know because of our predictions that it will come true. then we're doing it wrong. >> many schools face a lack of materials. numerous glasses have been cut and teachers laid off. >> all you have to do is work into -- walk into one school district around the country and see around the country it

thousand educators have lost their jobs. art and music and physical education. the courses kids need for science and math. she has been teaching for 17 years as a school administrator. is assistant principal teaching as an english teacher in the central office. >> the budget as required that class size be raised, and they have limited hiring, and there has been an impact on human resources available. >> professional development is one thing that has been cut over time significantly. they used to be full-time positions at every school. time were cut to part- positions, and depended on how many kids or staff members. that is something i would

definitely reinstates. >> u.s. highest court discovered tens of thousands of students are placed in oversized classrooms, taught by inadequate teachers and inadequate facilities or equipment. size in aimum class non-english class was 32. the next year it was 33. if you look across the county, you think what is one more kate? not a big deal. if you look across the county, that is hundreds of teachers. it adds up here ye. goes, but thetime cuts really creates a more tense atmosphere. people are a little bit more frustrated because they are making do with what they have, and not necessarily everything they need or everything they want. >> what can a national

government do to improve education in the united states? some believe shortening summer vacation is the answer. >> at a time when other countries are competing with us like never before -- >> children in america go to school for a much shorter time the children and other countries. japanese spent 8.5 days in school. american students are in class for an average of only 5.5 hours per day, 180 days per year. many people think our system will prepare young americans with an education they will be that will include many people from other countries. >> this will not make american citizens have become a but i do not know how else they can increase funding. >> the government has to decide they are either all in four

public schools or not. the simple solution to me is someone has to decide this is what is important. without proper education children will not be able to develop the necessary skills to reach their full potential. teachers and resources around them from an early age to receive the roles of the country's leaders and innovators. >> nothing will have a greater impact on your success in life and your education. >> without proper education, there's no future for the young degeneration of the united states. >> congratulations to all the winners in this year's student cam petition. competition. >> taking a closer look at president obama's budget. two members of cong