February 14, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 29 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S1338-S1341]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE SENSELESS ATTACK AT MARJORY 
                      STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL

  Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, a year ago this afternoon, I was sitting 
in my office in the Russell Office Building when a news report began to 
flash about a shooting at a high school in South Florida. I was the 
father at the time--in the case of one of my two older children--of a 
child who was still a high school student in South Florida. You would 
normally be interested, just in being a Senator from the State, but you 
would be most particularly interested as a parent. As it turns out, the 
incident and the shooting took place at a school that was about 50 
miles--about 50 minutes--from my home, and we all know of the story and 
of the lives that were lost in this terrible tragedy.
  On a personal level, it is clearly an issue that has affected me, 
first, because I am one of two Senators who represent the State. Every 
person who was impacted--every victim, everyone who was wounded--is a 
constituent of ours. Yet, as I have also pointed out, my two oldest 
children are the same ages as the victims. When you see the pictures 
and you hear the stories, you can't help but recognize the stories and 
the pictures, maybe just not individually. I didn't know any of the 
victims personally, but the stories are familiar. They are the stories 
of my children and their friends, who are of the same age and are at 
the same times in their lives.
  It is impossible to fully comprehend unless you have gone through the 
loss of a child--by the grace of God, I have not--particularly under 
such tragic and traumatic circumstances. Throughout the last 12 months, 
as we have reached different milestones in my two daughters' lives, 
whether it was their proms or graduation days, or whether it was 
dropping off my oldest at college or attending a class ring ceremony 
for a junior, we have been almost reminded, for just a moment, of the 
parents who had expected to have been doing the same during this time 
of the year but have been unable.
  I have learned a lot from those parents, many of whom I have gotten 
to know personally and have worked alongside, in the last year, on a 
number of issues. In the year that has passed, they have, as have the 
students, turned their grief into effective activism. The parents, in 
particular, are the ones with whom I have interacted the most here in 
Washington on a regular basis, and it is why I thought it appropriate 
to come to the floor today. I think they would say that the best way to 
honor the memories of the children they lost is to take actions that 
will work to make sure that no other parent will ever have to face this 
again.
  Several of the parents have publicly described what happened a year 
ago today as the most avoidable mass murder in American history, but 
what was it that enabled this to happen? Why was it avoidable? What 
could have been done to address it?
  In the brief moments that we have here--my colleague from Florida 
will have additional statements as well--I want to point to some of the 
things we now know that we didn't know a year ago today or in the days 
that followed.
  From it, not only should that spark outrage, but it should also spark 
ideas about how to fix those things so never again will any parent have 
to face what they did and none of my colleagues will have to stand here 
and give a speech like the ones my colleague from Florida and I have to 
give today.
  At the outset, let me say that the credit for much of what I am about 
to speak about belongs to the extraordinary journalists at the South 
Florida Sun Sentinel, who have done a remarkable job over the last 10 
months of revealing to the public many facts that would have been 
unknown otherwise.
  At a time when there is so much debate about journalism and its role 
in our society and in public service and in politics, they deserve 
tremendous credit for bringing this to light, and I think it is an 
example of why journalism remains an important institution in our 
country.
  A lot of the attention in this debate has been paid to the issues 
that we are familiar with and have been debating long before this 
tragedy: a ban on certain weapons, universal background checks, taking 
on what is described as the gun lobby. These issues dominated the 
national media coverage, and support for these positions is not new. 
They predate this tragedy.
  In our Republic, people most certainly have the right to advocate for 
this or against it. They have the right to lobby for it. They have the 
right to vote for candidates who support these positions and to vote 
against those who do not. They are valid issues to debate on public 
policy, but at the end of the day, neither go directly to the heart of 
this particular case and to the facts that led up to it.
  At the heart of this is that the killer, the perpetrator of this 
terrible tragedy, was known to be dangerous for a long time by many 
people in positions of power and authority at the school district, the 
sheriff's office, and at the FBI, and no one did anything about it. 
This is now a documented fact.
  Early in the days after this, we saw images of the sheriff and the 
superintendent lecturing people and talking about what a great job they 
had done, but the facts will show that it was their incompetence that 
allowed this to happen, and, then, even worse, they tried to cover it 
up.
  There is an article entitled ``Schools culture of tolerance lets 
students like [the killer] slide,'' by Megan O'Matz and Scott Travis, 
reporters at the South Florida Sun Sentinel. I am going to read from 
it, and then I am going to introduce it into the Record. I am not going 
to read the whole article.
  Here is how it opens:

       Broward schools have grown so tolerant of misbehavior that 
     students like [the killer] are able to slide by for years 
     without strict punishment for conduct that could be criminal.
       The culture of leniency allows children to engage in an 
     endless loop of violations and second chances, creating a 
     system where kids who commit the same offense for the 10th 
     time may be treated like it's the first. . . .
       [The killer] was suspended at least 67 days over less than 
     a year and a half at Westglades Middle School, and his 
     problems continued at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. . 
     . .

  The South Florida Sun Sentinel obtained the killer's discipline 
records, they reviewed discipline policies, and here is what they 
found:

       Students can be considered first-time offenders even if 
     they commit the same offense year after year.
       The district's claim of reforming bad behavior is 
     exaggerated.
       Lenient discipline has an added PR benefit for the 
     district: lower suspensions, expulsions and arrests along 
     with rising graduation rates.

  It goes on to say:

       Many teachers and parents say Broward has created a culture 
     in which teachers are expressly told or subtly pressured not 
     to send students to the administration for punishment so a 
     school's image is not tarnished.

  One teacher who taught for 37 years in the district before retiring 
said she

[[Page S1339]]

retired early due to her concerns about student discipline.
  Here is a quote:

       It was so many things. I had three students bring knives to 
     my classroom. One was out of the classroom for one day. 
     Another had so many things on his record, he was gone for 
     five days. None were expelled.

  Part of this leniency is a program called the Promise program, which 
the superintendent of the district claims has a 90-percent success rate 
by keeping students from reoffending. That is a misleading statistic 
because, ``A student can commit a subsequent infraction without being 
considered a repeat offender as long as it's not the exact same 
violation, in the exact same year.
  Each year they start with a clean slate.
  In the interest of time, I ask unanimous consent that the rest of 
this article be entered into the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Sun Sentinel, May 12, 2018]

  Schools' Culture of Tolerance Lets Students Like Nikolas Cruz Slide

                   (By Megan O'Matz and Scott Travis)

       Broward Schools have grown so tolerant of misbehavior that 
     students like Nikolas Cruz are able to slide by for years 
     without strict punishment for conduct that could be criminal.
       The culture of leniency allows children to engage in an 
     endless loop of violations and second chances, creating a 
     system where kids who commit the same offense for the 10th 
     time may be treated like it's the first, according to records 
     and interviews with people familiar with the process.
       Cruz was suspended at least 67 days over less than a year 
     and a half at Westglades Middle School, and his problems 
     continued at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, until he 
     finally was forced to leave.
       The South Florida Sun Sentinel obtained Cruz's discipline 
     records, reviewed discipline policies and found:
       Students can be considered first-time offenders even if 
     they commit the same offenses year after year.
       The district's claim of reforming bad behavior is 
     exaggerated.
       Lenient discipline has an added PR benefit for the 
     district: lower suspensions, expulsions and arrests along 
     with rising graduation rates.


 School district shuts down information after Stoneman Douglas shooting

       The forgiving attitude goes beyond the schools' 
     controversial Promise program, the target of considerable 
     public scrutiny for enabling students to avoid criminal 
     charges for misdemeanor offenses.
       The program, the pride of Superintendent Robert Runcie, was 
     designed to use counseling and mentoring to help students 
     avoid the school-to-prison pipeline. Under former zero-
     tolerance policies, black students ended up suspended, 
     expelled and arrested at rates that were widely 
     disproportionate to their peers.
       Desmond Blackburn, then Broward's chief school performance 
     and accountability officer, specifically instructed teachers 
     and staff in a video years ago to challenge and nurture 
     students, while using suspensions, expulsions and arrests as 
     ``absolute last resorts.''
       Now, many teachers and parents say Broward has created a 
     culture in which teachers are expressly told or subtly 
     pressured not to send students to the administration for 
     punishment so a school's image is not tarnished.
       Mary Fitzgerald taught for 37 years in the district before 
     retiring from Sunrise Middle in Fort Lauderdale in 2016. She 
     said she retired a year early due to her concerns about 
     student discipline.
       ``It was so many things. I had three students bring knives 
     to my classroom. One was out of the classroom for one day. 
     Another had so many things on his record, he was gone for 
     five days. None were expelled.''


 No one heeded warning signs about Nikolas Cruz before school shooting

       Safety concerns at Sunrise were brought up at faculty 
     meetings. ``The message out there is that the students are 
     untouchable. Habitual negative behavior means nothing 
     anymore,'' state the minutes of a Faculty Council meeting on 
     Feb. 2, 2015.
       ``My principal basically would tell me it was his job to 
     market the school. He was adamant about not looking bad,'' 
     Fitzgerald said.
       Runcie, in an interview with the Sun Sentinel, acknowledged 
     there are complaints that discipline isn't consistently 
     enforced.
       In a memo to principals Wednesday, Runcie said he 
     reinforced that ``we have to be vigilant in reporting every 
     incident so that we can ensure our students who are victims, 
     as well as offenders, get the appropriate intervention and 
     support.
       ``We're going to try to make sure, from the top, we're 
     sending the right message related to discipline and holding 
     our schools accountable,'' he said.
       The superintendent said in the memo that he will propose 
     the School Board create a Climate and Discipline Department 
     to ``better monitor and support school teams as they address 
     students with major challenges and concerns.''


                          The Promise program

       The Pine Ridge Education Center, just outside Fort 
     Lauderdale, houses the Promise program, as well as secure 
     classrooms for other children who have been expelled from 
     their regular school but need supervision and guidance.
       The principal describes it as a ``school of promise and 
     encouragement, not a school of punishment.'' Students call it 
     the ``Zap School,'' as in you've been ``zapped'' and sent 
     there as punishment.
       Runcie claims the Promise program has a 90 percent success 
     rate at keeping children from re-offending, but that 
     statistic can be deceiving.
       A student can commit a subsequent infraction without being 
     considered a repeat offender, as long as it's not the exact 
     same violation, in the exact same year.
       The following year, they start with a clean slate.
       ``It's extremely problematic,'' said Tim Sternberg, a 
     former assistant principal at Pine Ridge Educational Center 
     who administered the Promise program. ``You can develop a 
     psyche that it is OK to commit crime because you can refresh 
     the clock every year.''
       Sternberg says he doesn't have confidence in the district's 
     data. ``They aren't tracking kids over time.''
       Asked about kids starting each year anew, without marks 
     against them from prior semesters, Runcie told the Sun 
     Sentinel he will review it.
       ``We'll make whatever adjustments we need to. We review the 
     discipline policy every year and have made some adjustments 
     and continue to take feedback.''


                           Inside the Matrix

       The district's Student Code of Conduct, first created in 
     2004-05, includes a complicated discipline ``matrix'' that 
     lists the prescribed punishment for a litany of offenses: 
     skipping school, violating rules, being disruptive, having 
     drugs, fighting, destroying property, committing a crime.
       It was designed to help staff make fairer and more 
     equitable decisions in handing out penalties. But potential 
     punishments have become more lenient over the years.
       More than five years ago, a high school student who used 
     profanity toward a staff member would receive a three- to 10-
     day suspension. That was reduced to one to two days after the 
     discipline chart was revised.
       The first violation for disruptive classroom behavior 
     called for an in-school suspension of one to five days. 
     Later, it was reduced to a suspension of under one day.
       Since the 2012-13 school year, suspensions have declined 27 
     percent, according to the Florida Department of Education. 
     Incidents reported to law enforcement have fallen 8 percent. 
     The number of arrests per 1,000 students: down 64 percent.
       The district's menu of choices for dealing with rule-
     breaking students include detention, internal suspension, 
     out-of-school suspension and expulsion, where children can be 
     sent to an alternative education center.
       Or another option: the Promise program.


                              Under attack

       Runcie is proud and protective of the program, which was 
     launched under his leadership in November 2013 when the 
     Broward Sheriff's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the 
     NAACP, the state Department of Juvenile Justice and the State 
     Attorney signed an agreement to reduce school-based arrests.
       But the program is under attack because of widespread 
     allegations that Cruz, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school 
     shooter, benefited from it.
       Runcie had insisted that Cruz was not in the Promise 
     program, but he did an abrupt shift this week and said Cruz 
     had been referred to it in 2013 for vandalizing a bathroom. 
     Cruz did not complete the three-day stint, the district said, 
     but administrators haven't said why.


  Broward schools backtrack on gunman Nikolas Cruz's Promise program 
                               connection

       A couple of months later, he was sent to a special school 
     for children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. 
     As a tot, he was found to be developmentally delayed and had 
     been considered a special needs child in school, entitled to 
     certain services and protections under law.
       Some parents and community leaders have criticized the 
     superintendent for misleading the public about Cruz, and the 
     school district appears not to be able to make sense of all 
     of the records it has on him.
       ``To me, it's an indication that the various discipline 
     programs in place at the district are confusing, poorly 
     implemented and executed, and clearly if we take the district 
     at its statement, they've been difficult to track,'' said 
     Ryan Petty, whose daughter Alaina was one of 17 people shot 
     to death in Cruz's Valentine's Day massacre. ``If the records 
     are this difficult to find, clearly it would be difficult to 
     know whether this is helping students or not.''
       Despite Cruz's history of discipline problems, neither the 
     schools nor police ever steered him to the justice system.

  Mr. RUBIO. The second article--I will be brief on this--is from the 
Sun Sentinel, by Scott Travis: ``Broward schools fought against 2013 
plan for more security money.''
  They turned down a proposal to levy $55 million in tax dollars for 
school safety, and one of the quotes is this:


[[Page S1340]]


  

       One of the school board members slammed the proposal. They 
     said they'd rather ask voters for money to improve technology 
     and renovate old schools, which they did in November of 2014.

  In hindsight, that was a terrible mistake.
  There is another article from the Sun Sentinel: ``What's being done 
to stop another school shooting.'' Again, it is a very long article. I 
will just say this:

       Once he decided to shoot up a school, there wasn't much to 
     stop [the killer].
       His threats were ignored, the campus was wide open, the 
     school doors were unlocked and students had nowhere to hide.

  What has changed after 10 months since the shooting? This was back on 
December 29, 2018.

       At least a quarter of campuses do not have single-entry 
     points to control intruders. Safe spaces to protect children 
     in classrooms haven't been identified.

  The killer wasn't welcome at that high school, by the way.

       He was known by former classmates and even administrators 
     as a potential school shooter. And still he walked right onto 
     campus.

  It goes on to say:

       [The killer] didn't keep his homicidal urges quiet. But the 
     schools incompetently handled the threat he represented to 
     his fellow classmates and teachers.
       [The killer's] lust for violence had been documented 
     officially 69 times in his life. At least 30 people knew of 
     his troubling behavior before the shooting.

  In fact, I have here with me the record of those 69 discipline 
points. It is extensive, and I ask unanimous consent that that record 
be entered into the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       The table below shows the history of incidents involving 
     Nikolas Cruz as reported by school officials during his time 
     at Westglades Middle School and Marjory Stoneman Douglas 
     High. In between those schools, Cruz attended Cross Creek, a 
     public school in Pompano Beach for students with emotional 
     and behavioral disorders.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Date                             School                          Type of incident
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5/15/12...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
5/17/12...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
5/30/12...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
6/5/12................................  WESTGLADES...............  DISOBEDIENCE/INSUBORDINATION
8/12/12...............................  WESTGLADES...............  Profanity towards Staff
8/28/12...............................  WESTGLADES...............  FIGHTING
2/20/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
2/20/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
2/25/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
3/4/13................................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
3/4/13................................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
3/11/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
3/11/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
3/20/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  FALSE ALARM/911
4/8/13................................  WESTGLADES...............  OUT OF ASSIGNED AREA
4/10/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  RULES VIOLATION (Includes Classroom Rules)
4/10/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
4/17/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
4/17/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
4/22/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
5/6/13................................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY DIRECTED TOWARDS STAFF MEMBER
5/20/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  OUT OF ASSIGNED AREA
5/21/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
5/22/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
8/23/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTION ON CAMPUS (MINOR)
8/27/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
9/3/13................................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
9/11/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
9/16/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
9/18/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
9/23/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
9/24/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
9/30/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
10/1/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  LEVEL 3 BUS VIOLATION
10/2/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  LEVEL 3 BUS VIOLATION
10/3/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  VANDALISM <$1000
10/15/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISOBEDIENCE/INSUBORDINATION
10/22/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  DEFIANCE OF AUTHORITY/HABITUAL
10/29/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
10/29/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
11/4/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTIVE (UNRULY) BEHAVIOR
11/8/13...............................  WESTGLADES...............  LEVEL 3 BUS VIOLATION
11/12/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY DIRECTED TOWARDS STAFF MEMBER
11/12/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY DIRECTED TOWARDS STAFF MEMBER
11/19/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROHIBITED/DISTRACTING ITEMS-POut-of-School
                                                                    SuspensionESSION/USE
11/19/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTION ON CAMPUS (MINOR)
11/20/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTION ON CAMPUS (MINOR)
11/25/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  VANDALISM <$1000
12/11/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY DIRECTED TOWARDS STAFF MEMBER
12/12/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  ASSAULT (VERBAL)/THREAT--LOW LEVEL NON
                                                                    CRIMINAL
12/17/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  DISRUPTION ON CAMPUS (MINOR)
12/19/13..............................  WESTGLADES...............  PROFANITY DIRECTED TOWARDS STAFF MEMBER
1/29/14...............................  WESTGLADES...............  FALSE ALARM/911
2/24/16...............................  STONEMAN.................  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
9/20/16...............................  STONEMAN.................  FIGHTHING MEDIUM
9/29/16...............................  STONEMAN.................  PROFANITY/USE OF INSULTING/OBSCENE LANG
12/22/16..............................  STONEMAN.................  PROFANITY DIRECTED TOWARDS STAFF MEMBER
1/19/17...............................  STONEMAN.................  ASSAULT (VERBAL)/THREAT--LOW LEVEL NON
                                                                    CRIMINAL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Mr. RUBIO. Wrapping up on this point, there is another article from 
the Sun Sentinel entitled ``Hide, deny, spin, threaten: How the school 
district tried to mask failures that led to Parkland shooting.'' It 
talks about efforts that were made by the school district to keep from 
the public the sorts of things that we are now finding out.
  Finally, ``Here's what the [school district] knew about the Parkland 
shooter'' is another article that talks about, time and again, how this 
killer told people he was going to do this--not just one person, but 
multiple people--and nothing was in place to do anything about it.
  I wrap up with a couple of points. The first is that the Marjory 
Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission empaneled by the 
State looked at these shootings and from it, I think, are pretty 
instructive of some of the things I hope we can work on together. It 
looked at a 20-year period and found that 48 individuals committed 46 
of these attacks, and 35 were students, and 10 were former students. So 
45 of the 48 were either students or former students.
  It found that the most typical weapon used was a semiautomatic 
pistol. It found that 50 percent of these attacks were done with 
weapons that were taken from the home--not even purchased, but taken 
from the home. It found that in four of five incidents, at least one 
person had some knowledge that they were going to do this, and in more 
than half of the cases, at least two people knew they were going to do 
this.
  It is on the basis of these discoveries, working with many of the 
parents whose children lost their lives a year

[[Page S1341]]

ago today, that last year we pursued on a bipartisan basis and passed 
the STOP School Violence Act, which provides, over a 10-year period, 
$100 million a year for strengthening school security, providing school 
training to identify threats before they take action, and creating 
school threat assessments and crisis intervention. That has passed.
  It is why this year I have reintroduced the Extreme Risk Protection 
Order and Violence Protection Act, which will dedicate the Department 
of Justice funds to incentivize States to give law enforcement the 
authority to prevent individuals that pose a threat to themselves or 
others the ability to purchase or possess firearms, so that if 
information like what was available to authorities in Parkland is 
available to people now, they can actually go to court--to prove their 
case with due process, and take the guns away from this person before 
they go out and commit this crime. More importantly, they can alert 
their parents to secure the guns at home so they don't use that gun to 
commit the crime.
  I have also introduced a bipartisan bill, the Threat Assessment 
Prevention and Safety Act. It creates a task force of experts to 
provide recommendations for a national strategy to keep our communities 
safe from targeted violence through threat assessment and management, 
which experts say is the best way to identify potential killers before 
they act.
  If something like this had been in place, it is highly likely that 
authorities, putting all this together--what we know today--would have 
said this individual is a serious threat and we need to do something 
about it before they take action.
  And, finally, yesterday, Senator Grassley and I reintroduced the 
EAGLES Act, which would reauthorize and expand the U.S. Secret Service 
National Threat Assessment Center to help communities proactively 
mitigate threats of violence in schools.
  It is my hope that this terrible tragedy and what we have learned 
about it will guide us and will provide us a road map of concrete steps 
that we can take to empower communities, schools, and police 
departments and parents and families with the tools they need, not just 
to identify people who are potentially violent but to prevent it from 
happening and to get out ahead of it--maybe it is a risk assessment or 
maybe it is institutionalized mental health or wraparound services, but 
anything that can be done.
  I raise all of this today because if you were to speak to the 
families, as I know my colleague from Florida and I often do, they will 
tell you that the most important thing we can do to honor the memory of 
their children whom they lost in this terrible tragedy is to make sure 
it doesn't happen to anybody else.
  Now, there is one more thing we would like to do to honor the victims 
of this tragedy. My colleague Senator Scott and I have put forth a 
resolution that commemorates this day. It honors the survivors. It 
pledges continued support for their recovery. It recognizes the 
strength and resiliency of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the 
community that surrounds it. It expresses gratitude to the emergency 
medical and healthcare professionals of the community for their efforts 
in responding and caring for the victims and survivors. Most of all, it 
commemorates the victims who were killed in the attack, and it offers 
the Senate's heartfelt condolences and deepest sympathies to the 
families, loved ones, and friends of the victims.
  Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 71, 
submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 71) honoring the Memory of the 
     Victims of the Senseless Attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas 
     High School 1 Year Ago.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There being no objection, the Senate proceeded 
to consider the resolution.
  Mr. RUBIO. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, 
the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 71) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mr. RUBIO. I yield the floor.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senator from Florida be given 3 minutes to speak on the resolution of 
his colleague from Florida, and then I speak on leader time, to be 
followed immediately by Senators Whitehouse, Schatz, and Merkley.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I thank my colleague Senator 
Rubio for standing with me to remember the victims and their families 
on this tragic anniversary and for his unwavering commitment to school 
safety.
  Alyssa Alhadeff, Scott Beigel, Martin Duque Anguiano, Nicholas 
Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime Guttenberg, Chris Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara 
Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, 
Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, Peter Wang--one year 
ago today, these 17 souls were taken from us in a brutal act of 
violence. They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters; they were 
students and athletes and musicians and teachers. Not a day goes that I 
don't think about that day and the amazing people who were snuffed out 
by the deranged actions of a madman.
  Over the course of the last year, I have spent countless hours with 
the families of the victims. Unfortunately, I wish we had never met 
like this. They have been partners in our efforts to ensure that this 
never happens again. We worked together, along with educators, mental 
health professionals, and law enforcement, to pass the Marjory Stoneman 
Douglas High School Public Safety Act, to make sure our State does 
everything in its power to prevent tragedies like this from happening 
again.
  Today, the State of Florida stands united with heavy hearts. Nothing 
we say here today can bring back the lives that were lost. Nothing we 
do can replace the angels of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who 
were taken from us too soon. But we must never forget them. We must 
honor their memory every day, and we must rededicate ourselves to the 
goal of ending violence in our schools.
  I yield the floor.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.

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