mr. cornyn: mr. president, 28 mr. cornyn: mr. president, 28 >> 20 days ago mr. president and 18 -year-old young man opened fire on students in elementary school in texas and murdered 21 people 19 children and to teachers.

mr. cornyn: mr. president, 28 mr. cornyn: mr. president, 28 >> 20 days ago mr. president and 18 -year-old young man opened fire on students in elementary school in texas and murdered 21 people 19 children and to teachers. in the process he effectively committed suicide as well. this is an attack that was so cruel and brutal and inhumane that it has brought much of the nation to its knees and morning. since the shooting my office has received receiving tens of thousands of calls and letters and e-mails with the singular message do something. not do nothing. do something. texans are disgusted and outraged at what happened and they want congress to take appropriate action to prevent the loss of more innocent lives. i don't want us to pass a bill for checking a box want to make sure we do something useful something that is capable of becoming a lot of the potential to save lives. i'm happy to report as a result of the hard work of a number of senators in this chamber that we have made serious progress. in particular over the last few weeks senator murphy senator cin

mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i came to the floor to talk about the bipartisan safer communities act, but first let me just express my gratitude to the senator from west virginia for his long-time commitment to come up with a bipartisan solution. this is not easy and there's a lot of examples of good-faith attempts to try to come up with an answer that can get the requisite number of votes. i know the senator from west virginia knows how hard that is. but it hasn't deterred him from contributing to our efforts, and i think -- i think our product that we're voting on is better for that. so i want to say thank you mr. manchin: if i could say one thing if you'd give me a minute here. the leadership you've shown is admirable. it really is. you come from a gun culture. i come from a gun culture. we know the challenges in the gun culture. i say to a group of people, it's not enough. to other people, it's too much. anything is too much because it's the camel's nose under the tent they're afraid of

mr. cornyn: madam president, like so many people in texas and across the country, i can't stop thinking abouthe 19 children and the two teachers who lost their lives in uvalde, texas. over the last several days, 21 families have started burying their loved ones. this tight-knit community of

mr. cornyn: madam president, like so many people in texas and across the country, i can't stop thinking about the 19 children and the two teachers who lost their lives in uvalde, texas. over the last several days, 21 families have started burying their loved ones. this tight-knit community of 16,000 people 60 miles from the u.s.-mexico border is grieving the loss of classmates, playmates, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and fellow church members. as grief turns to anger and anger turns to action, everyone is asking the question, the logical question -- how do we stop these sort of things from happening again? well, i think that's the right question. that's the question that's been on my mind and dominating conversations with my colleagues the last couple of weeks. now, this is a big, diverse country. there are a lot of differences regionally, culturally, and the like. and each of us have ideas about what would work best, but that's the genius of our federal system. what louis brandeis called the laboratories of democracy. because one-size-fits-all is not necessarily always the right solution.

mr. cornyn: mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: and i'd consent that i believe allowed to complete my remarks before the senate adjourns for the lunch hour. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i want to report that we are making serious progress in our bipartisan effort to respond to the shooting in uvalde, texas, and other places around the country. over the last few weeks i've been working particularly with senator murphy, senator sinema, senator tillis on mental health and school safety reforms, and we've narrowed the scope of our discussions to provisions that we believe can earn broad bipartisan support in the senate. and a number of our colleagues on both sides have joined the discussion. over the weekend we announced an agreement on principles for bipartisan legislation. 20 senators, 10 republicans, and 10 democrats. this included a range of targeted reforms to ke

these short of shootings lies in greater mental health checks and greater security at schools — and mr cornynseems an agreement if it comes will be on so—called federal red flag laws, the sort that we seek to identify. people who should it be allowed to possess guns and remove them. the bodies of some ukrainian fighters killed defending the key south—eastern port of mariupol have now arrived in kyiv. the soldiers' families say this was part of a swap more than 50 are the bodies of members of the azov regiment, who died defending the azovstal steelworks. in the city of mariupol, there has also been warning of a possible outbreak of cholera — many bodies are still believed buried under the rubble, and sewage reportedly contaminates the water supply. intense fighting is continuing in eastern ukraine, with reports of civilians killed in strikes on kharkiv, and other areas of the donbas. and the distribution of food from ukraine to the rest of the world continues to be a problem. russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov, has arrived in turkey for talks aimed at unblocking the export of grain, and o

these short of shootings lies in greater mental health checks and greater security at schools — mr cornynn in an attempt to get some sort of agreement, and it seems an agreement if it comes will be on so—called federal red flag laws, the sort that we seek to identify people who should it be allowed to possess guns and remove them from their grasp. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the world bank has slashed its annual forecast for global economic growth, warning that many of the less rich countries face a major recession. the causes include russia's war against ukraine and continuing effects of the covid pandemic. the bank says there's a strong risk of stagflation — low growth combined with high inflation. the police in brazil have opened a criminal investigation into the disappearance of the british journalist dom philips who went missing in a remote part of the amazon while he was with a leading indigenous expert. local people said the men had been threatened during their visit to the javari valley in north—western brazil. monkeypox is to be listed as a notifiabl

greater mental health checks and greater mental health checks and greater security at schools, and mr cornynn in an attempt to get some sort of agreement, and it seems an agreement if it comes will be on so—called federal red flag laws, the sort that we seek to identify. people who should it be allowed to possess guns and remove them. all possess guns and remove them. all right, david willis, thank you very for your input. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, has told his cabinet that it's time to "draw a line" under the controversies and internal wrangling that resulted in a confidence vote on his leadership on monday. the prime minister said the government should focus on dealing with the aftershocks of the covid pandemic. he saw off a leadership challenge, but with a much smaller majority than many had expected, prompting speculation that his position is far from secure. here's the latest from our political editor, chris mason. the prime minister took his jack russell dilyn out first thing this morning on a day when the biggest word in westminster is loyalty, or the lack of it. a few hour

mr. cornyn: mr. president, tomorrow will mark one month since the tragic shooting in uvalde, texas, a high school dropout with a history of violence and mental health struggles, purchased two ar-15's within days turning 18, and he passed a background check. he then shot his own grandmother because she wanted him to go back into the classroom rather than drop out of school and then went to the robb elementary school through an unlocked door. he then opened fire on two fourth grade classrooms, killing 19 students and two teachers. the american people were shocked, outraged, and devastated by this attack and collectively asked, how can we prevent this from happening again? while the discussions surrounding this topic causes emotions to run high, and i understand why, for too long some politicians have tried to pit the right to live in a safe community against the iewnl right to keep -- constitutional right to keep and bare arms, they make it seem like the country can only have one, either the second ame

mr. cornyn: mr.ow will mark one month since the tragic shooting in uvalde, texas, a high school dropout with a history of violence and mental health struggles, purchased two ar-15's within days turning 18, and he passed a background check. he then shot his own grandmother because she wanted him to go back into the classroom rather than drop out of school and then went to the robb elementary school through an unlocked door. he then od

mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i came to the floor to talk about the bipartisan safer communities act, but first let me just express my gratitude to the senator from west virginia for his long-time commitment to come up with a bipartisan solution. this is not easy and there's a lot of examples of good-faith attempts to try to come up with an answer that can get the requisite number of votes. i know the senator from west virginia knows how hard that is. but it hasn't deterred him from contributing to our efforts, and i think -- i think our product that we're voting on is better for that. so i want to say thank you mr. manchin: if i could say one thing if you'd give me a minute here. the leadership you've shown is admirable. it really is. you come from a gun culture. i come from a gun culture. we know the challenges in the gun culture. i say to a group of people, it's not enough. to other people, it's too much. anything is too much because it's the camel's nose under the tent they're afraid of

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. cornyn -- mr. cornyn: mr. president, tomorrow will mark one month since the tragic shooting in uvalde, texas, a high school dropout with a history of violence and mental health struggles, purchased two ar-15's within days turning 18, and he passed a background check. he then shot his own grandmother because she wanted him to go back into the classroom rather than drop out of school and then went to the robb elementary school through an unlocked door. he then opened fire on two fourth grade classrooms, killing 19 students and two teachers. the american people were shocked, outraged, and devastated by this attack and collectively asked, how can we prevent this from happening again? while the discussions surrounding this topic causes emotions to run high, and i understand why, for too long some politicians have tried to pit the right to live in a safe community against the iewnl right to keep -- constitutional right to keep and bare arms, they make it seem like the country can only have one, either the second ame

mr. cornyn: madam president, tomorrow will mark three weeks since the devastating school shooting in uvalde, texas. over those last three weeks, senators murphy, from connecticut, senator sinema, from arizona, senator tillis, from north carolina, and others have been working to identify steps that congress should take to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future. this is not an easy debate. it's emotional and can be divisive, but it's also very important that we act. most often you hear people say, do something. well, they don't give you a lot of guidance on what that something looks like, and when you begin to dig down into the details, you find out that there's not a lot of consensus about what that something should look like. the good news is as a result of the work we've been doing these last three weeks, working with our colleagues, i believe we are making good progress. over the weekend, there was an agreement reached between 20 senators, ten republicans and ten democrats, on a framework or principles for bipartisan legislation to keep our kids and our communities safe. b

mr. cornyn is putting a familiar role, the conservative republican in a room of centrists who can make orak an agreement. ed has both sides depressing to some degree of which it will be. he was handpicked by mitch mcconnell. it needs the far-reaching gun control measures that president biden and top democrats are seeking are off the table from the start. the times writes quoting john cornyn that "it has to be incremental," he said in an interview, quickly dismissing mr. biden's steps for passing the senate, such as renewing the federal ban on assault weapons, limiting high-capacity magazines, or raising the age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle from 21 to 18. let's hear from ray in elizabeth city, north carolina. go ahead. caller: hello. hi. yes, thank you very much for taking my call. now, they can change the age limit. they can also pass laws, new laws. but that is not going to change the hearts and minds of people who have made decisions. that is what needs to be done. for the change in minds and hearts of individuals, to push reports of good deeds to enforce the laws already on the b

mr. president. think it senator cornyn for the work you're doing. working with senator murphy and so many other senators. you and i have done so many bills together including the historic save our bill which made such a difference. and i am very pleased we are finally advancing gun safety legislation and a lot of these heprovisions are things we have been working across the aisle on for many years. the boyfriend loophole, something i introduced in 2013 mr. president, ten years ago to close the boyfriend loophole. ofthat is a part of this negotiation. part of the framework pretty of cellmate women killed one every 14 hours from domestic partners. one every 14 hours from domestic partners with guns in this country. and sadly, half of those involved dating partners. people who are not married to someone but they are in a romantic relationship with them in some way. on the way the law works in all but 19 states where it is fully closed and many of these states you could be convicted of domestic abuse and you can still go out and buy a gun the next day.

mr. cornyn: madam president, like so many people in texas and across the country, i can't stop thinking about the 19 children and the two teachers who lost their lives in uvalde, texas. over the last several days, 21 families have started burying their loved ones. this tight-knit community of 16,000 people 60 miles from the u.s.-mexico border is grieving the loss of classmates, playmates, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and fellow church members. as grief turns to anger and anger turns to action, everyone is asking the question, the logical question -- how do we stop these sort of things from happening again? well, i think that's the right question. that's the question that's been on my mind and dominating conversations with my colleagues the last couple of weeks. now, this is a big, diverse country. there are a lot of differences regionally, culturally, and the like. and each of us have ideas about what would work best, but that's the genius of our federal system. what louis brandeis called the laboratories of democracy. because one-size-fits-all is not necessarily always the right solution.

mr. cornyn: thank you, mr. president. over the last couple of weeks, many of us have spent a lot of time thinking about the horrific shootings and uvalde, philadelphia, buffalo, and elsewhere. unfortunately these are familiar scenes that we've seen before. and we'd like to try to find a way to reduce the likelihood of their reoccurrence in the future if there's anything we can do here in the senate to make that possibility. so i've been working particularly with senator murphy who is my partner on the fix nics bill we passed in 2018. senator murphy comes from a blue state, connecticut. i come from a red state, texas. in that example we were able to take the horrible events of sutherland springs where innocent parishioners were gunned down at a small baptist church outside of san antonio and take out of that tragedy something good, which is a bill we called fix nics, the national instant criminal background checks system. since it was signed into law, 11 and a half million new records have been uploaded into the background

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: thank you, senator cornyn, for the work you're doing and working with senator murphy and so many other senators. you and i have done so many bills together, including the historic save our stages bill, which made such a difference. and i am very pleased that we are finally advancing gun safety legislation, and a lot of these provisions are things that we have been working across the aisle on for many years. the boyfriend loophole, something that i introduced in 2013, mr. president, ten years ago, to close the boyfriend loophole. that is a part of this negotiation, part of the framework. we have so many women killed, one every 14 hours from domestic partners. one every 14 hours from domestic partners with guns in this country. and sadly, half of those involve dating partners, people who aren't married to someone but they're in a romantic relationship with them in some way. and the way the law works in all but 19 states where it is fully closed, in many of these states, you get convicted -- convicted of domestic

cornyn and chris murphy. the lead negotiators on the gun ofbill. >> mr. president 28 days ago an 18-year-old young man opened fire on students at the robb elementary school anybody texas. he murdered 21 people. 19 children and two teachers. in the process, he effectively committed suicide as well. this is an attack that was so cruel, so brutal and inhumane o that it is brought much of our nation to its knees in morning. since shooting my office has received -- as i'm sure any other members of congress have received tens of thousands of calls and letters and e-mails with a singular message. do something. do something. not do nothing. but do something. texans are disgusted and outraged about what happened at robb elementary and they want congress to take appropriate action to prevent the loss of more innocent lives. i don't want us to pass a bill for the purpose of checking a box. i want to make sure we actually do something useful. something that is capable of becoming the law, something that will have the potential to save lives. i'm happy to report as a

cornyn gave an update on efforts of gun safety legislation by next week. he said there are specific to the bipartisan framework that's only to be worked out. >> mr.resident, on sunday bipartisan group of senators announced principles for addressing concerns over shootings that occurred in uvalde, texas and other places as well. i would say we have been making good progress but we've run into a couple of bumps in the road that have slowed things down a little bit. once the request was intervention programs. i believe we ought to put every state seeking intervention programs that they have in place already. even if they don't have a red flag law. read it flag is been what has been discussed many times. nineteen stakes have red flag walls. that means 31 states have other crisis intervention initiatives that are designed to address the same problems. people who are a danger to themselves and to others. because of their mental health. it includes things like assisted outpatient treatment programs. mental health courts and veterans courts. the other issue that we are wrestling with relates to the ndomestic violence division and relationships are handle

cornyn gave an effort on gun safety legislation by next week. he said that there are specifics to the bipartisan remark that still need to be worked out. >> mr. president, on sunday, a bipartisan group of senators announced principles for addressing the concerns over shirting like occurred in uvalde, texas, and other places as well. i say we have been making good progress but we've ran into a couple bumps in the road that have slowed things down a bit. crisis intervention which we have agreed is very important. i believe that we ought to put every state in a position of seeking and receiving funds for crisis intervention programs that they have in place already even if they don't have a red flag law. red flag is what has been discussed many times, but 19 states have red flag laws, but that means 31 states have other crisis intervention initiatives that are designed to address the same problem which are people who are a danger to themselves and others because of their mental health. it includes things like assisted outpatient treatment programs. drug courts, mental health courts and veterans courts. the other issue that we are wrestling with r

mr. murphy and senator john cornyn are leading the negotiations to get a deal that can garner the 60 voteseeded to survive in the senate. the talks center around changes to background checks and federal incentives for states to adopt red flag laws and allow authorities to confiscate firearms from people whom a court deems dangerous. president biden made his wishes clear thursday in his white house address on what he would like to see in gun legislation. here is part of his 15 minute address. [video clip] >> we need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. if we cannot, we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21, strengthen background checks, and act safe storage laws and red flag laws, repeal the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability, address the mental health crisis deepening the trauma of gun violence. these are rational, common sense measures. here is what it all means. we should reinstate the assault weapons ban on high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994 with bipartisan support in congress and the support of law enforcement. nine categori

i thank the senators coon and cornyn and likewise introducing bills that will extend protection to the families of justices and thank congresswoman jackson lee. mr. stanton's bill would extended protection to family of court employees. there was republican opposition to that aspect and in protecting the justice families. i hope we will move swiftly another bill to extend protection of the families of employees as well. i hope my colleagues will join me to ensure the families of supreme court justices have the necessary protection from any threats they may face. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: i ask to -- yield myself such time as i may consume. why did it take so long? why did it take so long to bring this legislation to the floor. it has been a month since a draft of the opinion, a month of threats on supreme court justices and their families and over a month of protests at their home. why did it take so long? the protests at their home are direction violation 18u.s.c.1507, over a month. it has been over a week, a week since an assassi

mr. cullen, that was senator cornyn's comments. go ahead.biding drivers are not going to crash their car or do anything reckless, so why is there in overreach of imposing speed limits on everyone? that is overreach. that is the exact argument he is advancing. most gun owners are law-abiding people and are not a threat as he says. i want to be clear on a couple things. most gun owners want sensible gun safety. most of these things on the table, most gun owners and most nra members agree with it. it is their leadership and people like senator john cornyn standing in the way. most people are law-abiding. no one from the gun safety movement wants to attack them, which is a change. in the 1970's and 1980's, some people did have a problem with guns and were anti-gun and were condescending towards them. we have a lot of damage and trust to rebuild. it is important to understand that the nra has a lot of conmen who are out for themselves who have hijacked a movement for their own purposes. the nra is part of the problem. its members and gun owners a

cornyn and i have a bill on this, the overdose review team act. how important is it for the federal government to support overdose review teams? dr. gupta: thank you, mr. chairman. it is important we understand science and data behind people suffering from overdoses. four out of five people came in contact with health care system before they died. it is us who failed them, not the other way around. this happens to people in communities and neighborhoods and we want to solve those issues at that level. sen. whitehouse: we have been doing a good job in rhode island to make sure that anyone who comes in with an overdose case is assigned to appear specialist. they do not always want to talk, but the opportunities are there and we look forward to working together to get our bill passed into law. telehealth was something we learned about through the opioid epidemic. we want to make sure that the capacities and flexibilities of telehealth that were established during the covid period continue to support the continuation of telehealth flexibility in opioid treatment. dr. gupta: one of the great things that has happened during this administration is providing

mr. president, i yield the floor. led by senators cornyn, sinema, tillis and others have work to move this forward. the first senate floor vote on the package was a strong bipartisan vocal. let's be clear thisbill is a compromise . a 50-50 say you expect nothing less. it doesn't accomplish everything i want. it certainly doesn't accomplish everything the republican colleagues who voted for it want eitherbut the reforms and investments made in this bill represent an important step toward making our nation safer . it won't and gun violence but well help reduce the number of shootings and killings which number about 100 americans each day and and perhaps guns as the leading cause of death among our children. we've highlighted a few important provisions. $250 million in grants for community violence intervention program which has shown great promise in communities in my state. this would double the current annual justice department funding for theseprograms . the bill makes dramatic investments in mental health infrastructure, providing billion

cornyn and mitch mcconnell and basically red flag laws. if they can get action on red flag laws and get momentum on hardening schools, take the win, mr.resident. don't just kill it because you're really so dug in on the left that you have to go take our guns. take the win on that little issue and the american people will actually say, you know what? you did something. everyone says do something, do something. that would be something. >> don't you think, jessica, that it really is kind of amazing that, as greg has been saying for weeks now, the president has like a one facetted approach, you've got to take the guns. you have a baby now. i would assume that you would want schools hardened. you would want to know about, you know, you would want red flag laws to be in place so when someone shows all of the signs that when we look back we see all the crumbs that kind of led up to this that there's got to be more than just lets get rid of basically the second amendment >> jessica: it has to be a multi variable approach for sure but in terms of hardening schools some of the things i have e heard that goes into it like teachers being armed i

course, i also want to thank senators cornyn, tillis, and my republican colleagues who made the decision to tackle this difficult issue. and, most important of all, mr. president, i want to thank all the survivors of gun violence, all the families and advocates who dedicated years of their lives to try and make a difference. this would not be possible without their years of work. no matter how many mass shootings have been met with gridlock over the years, these families never gave up on their hopes of making change happen. as i have told them, rather than curse the darkness, they lit a candle. they have turned their grief into action. and now their action has brought us to the brink of passing the first significant gun safety bill in decades. the negotiators have done their work. now it's time for the senate to complete the job and pass the bill before the end of the week. the american people have waited long enough. now, on an insulin bill -- another bit of good news, a bright light -- earlier this morning my colleague, senator shaheen and collins, released legislation taking direct aim at one of the most confounding problems facing millions of am

cornyn is very unpopular to republican voters. watch his reception today atan the texas republican convention. >> listen to the boosenti from the country starting with congressman. thank you , mr. may. god bless the great state of senator mike lee who sits in the senate. he's from utah. he's watched this whole thing. he's a a constitutional scholar among other things. and we're delighted to have him tonight . senator , thanks so much for coming. i'm not going to put you in a position where you have to tax your colleagues. but there's a broader question i wonder why if you're worriedes about crimes committed with guns, murders committed with guns, that you wouldn't do something about them and instead focus as they are now on taking guns from lawom abiding people who've l been convicted of anything? i think that's very important any time a mass shooting occurs. many laws have been violatedeen sometimes dozens of laws. and as you pointed out correctly in manyma cases you have a failure of enforcement at the state and the local level and sometimes we need tout figure out why those failures are happening.in butg what is concerning is when you when you get a gang of 20 comes togethe

i thank the senators coon and cornyn and likewise introducing bills that will extend protection to the families of justices and thank congresswoman jackson lee. mr. stanton's bill would extended protection to family of court employees. there was republican opposition to that aspect and in protecting the justice families. i hope we will move swiftly another bill to extend protection of the families of employees as well. i hope my colleagues will join me to ensure the families of supreme court justices have the necessary protection from any threats they may face. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: i ask to -- yield myself such time as i may consume. why did it take so long? why did it take so long to bring this legislation to the floor. it has been a month since a draft of the opinion, a month of threats on supreme court justices and their families and over a month of protests at their home. why did it take so long? the protests at their home are direction violation 18u.s.c.1507, over a month. it has been over a week, a week since an assassi

cornyn gave an effort on gun safety legislation by next week. he said that there are specifics to the bipartisan remark that still need to be worked out. >> mr.resident, on sunday, a bipartisan group of senators announced principles for addressing the concerns over shirting like occurred in uvalde, texas, and other places as well. i say we have been making good progress but we've ran into a couple bumps in the road that have slowed things down a bit. crisis intervention which we have agreed is very important. i believe that we ought to put every state in a position of seeking and receivingun

mr. cornyn: mr. president, 28 days ago an 18-year-old young man opened fire on students at the robb elementary school in uvalde, texas. he murdered 21 people -- 19 children and 2 teachers. in the process, he effectively committed suicide as well. this was an attack that was so cruel, so brutal and inhumane that it has brought much of our nation to its knees in mourning. since the shooting, my office has received, as i'm sure many other members of congress have, i received tens of thousands of calls and letters and e-mails with a singular message -- do something. do something. not do nothing, but do something. texans are disgusted and outraged by what happened at robb elementary and they want congress to take appropriate action to prevent the loss of more innocent lives. i don't want us to pass a bill for the purpose of checking a box. i want to make sure we actually do something useful, something that is capable of becoming a law, something that will have the potential to save lives. i'm happy to rep

mr. president, on june 12th, the bipartisan group of 20 senators announced an agreement on legislation to protect our chirp and communities from the ep epidemic gun violence. led by cornyn, sinema, tillis and others have worked to move this forward. we took the first vote last night the first senate floor vote. a strong bipartisan role call. let's be clear, this bill is a compromise. in a 50-50 senate you expect nothing less. it doesn't accomplish everything i want, it certainly doesn't accomplish everything which the republican colleagues who voted for it want either. but the reforms and investments made in this bill represent an important step toward making our nation safer. it won't end gun violence, but it will help to reduce the number of shootings and killings which number about 100 americans each day, and end perhaps guns as the leading cause of death among our children. let me highlight a few important provisions. 250 million dollars in grants for community violence intervention programs, which have shown great promise in communities in my state. this would double the current annual justice department funding for these programs. the bill makes dramatic investmen