Carolyn McCarthy

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown). (Ms. BROWN of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Rivers). (Ms. RIVERS asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez). (Ms. VELAZQUEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Tauscher). (Mrs. TAUSCHER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley). (Ms. BERKLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps). (Mrs. CAPPS asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow). (Ms. STABENOW asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. Dear colleagues, this is an amendment that is commonsense. It is commonsense for the American people. I ask the Members to listen to the speakers and, hopefully, be open-minded when they vote. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema).

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren). (Ms. LOFGREN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. McCarthy). (Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton). (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald). (Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky). (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee). (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, my good colleague, the gentlewoman from Connecticut, mentioned that I came here to Congress to try and make a difference in people's lives. Six years ago I used to work in my garden a lot. I worked as a nurse. My husband and I used to go skiing in the winter, and my son was starting a new job. Then, on December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day, an incident happened on Long Island which certainly affected my life and many lives on Long Island. That day I lost my husband. That day my son almost died, and my world became upside down. It is almost 6 years now, and I take this issue of gun safety very, very personally because, as my son started to recover, he said, ``Mom, what is going on out there? Why are people shooting each other?'' It was at that point that I vowed that I would try and make a difference. It was at that point that I vowed that, if I could save one family going through what we on Long Island went through, then that would be my job. As a nurse, I have always looked at things as holistic. I have always looked at things as common sense. I said, well, obviously we have just got to tell the story, obviously we have just got to reach out to the American people and say, listen, we can make a difference out here. We can save people's lives. Never once did I ever think of taking away the right of someone to own a gun that never came into my mind. But there was more that we could do to make sure that criminals did not get their guns. There was more that we could do so that children did not accidently find a gun and use it. There was more that we could do to save families from going through the pain that we all did. Then in 1996, my Representative decided to vote to repeal the assault weapons bill. But what people did not realize is how hard I fought to make sure that large capacity clips could not be used in this country. People said, well, that would not have made any difference in the Long Island railroad shooting. It would not have helped my husband, and it would not have helped my son, and it would not have helped the people in the beginning of the car. But I would have to say it would have helped three young people on the other end of the car because Colin Ferguson used a clip that had 15 bullets in it. He was able to get two clips off before courageous people were able to tackle him. With the assault weapons bill, we brought that down to 10 bullets a clip. I will be very honest with my colleagues, I did not know enough about guns, I did not know enough about what was going on out there. But one of the things I did find out from asking my hunters, ``Do you use these large capacity clips? Do you use these to go hunting?'' They said ``Oh, absolutely not. You are not allowed to. You have to be a sportsman.'' I said, ``Well let me get this right. Large capacity clips, people can buy them up to 15, 30, sometimes 60, sometimes 90 clips in one round, but we will give the animals in the forest, we will give the birds a better chance than a human being.'' I could not understand that. Why did we have to fight so hard to get it down to 10 clips? Colin Ferguson did not miss one person with the bullets that he used. If we had had that law passed then, maybe three young people on the other end of the train would have survived. We do not know. Because the good news is, once the law was passed, we do not have a count on how many people were saved because we do not have a statistic anymore. But I remember that debate back then, because I was part of it. I remember the NRA leadership at that time saying this is the slippery road. We are going to take away the right of everyone to own a gun. That has not happened. That was back in 1994. Now here we are in 1999. We have had eight shootings in our schools. We have lost too many children and too many were wounded. We should be focusing on so many different issues. The gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) talked about mental health. As a nurse, I can tell my colleagues that is something that we have to work with especially in our schools. Our children seem to be under so much pressure today. We have a lot of things that we can work on together, working with the parents, working with the schools, working with our community police to try and stop these tragedies. But people are forgetting because they do not make the newspapers. When we lose 13 young people a day, that is a Littleton every single day. We cannot lose focus on that. But one of the things that upsets me, again, the NRA leadership. I keep saying the word ``leadership'' for a reason, because I have a lot of NRA members in my district. I talked to them, and I said, ``This is what we are trying to do. Do you see anything wrong with this? Is there anything wrong with a child safety lock?'' They said, ``Carolyn, we already store our guns correctly. We take those precautions.'' Do my colleagues know what, almost every hunter does. We are not concerned about those that actually know how to store their guns, but we have so many people today that just go out and buy a gun, do not learn how to use it, bring it home, and leave it in the home. That is inviting disaster. That is inviting disaster. What we are trying to do is modest, and they will say, the NRA leadership, that it is not going to save anyone's life. I have heard this debate for so long, and, yet, when I look at other countries, other countries that do not have the killings like we do, they have the same social problems as we do, they have drug problems, they have alcohol problems, they have mental health problems, and yet they are not losing over 30,000 people a year or they are not losing over 5,000 children under the age of 18 every single year. There is something wrong here. All I am asking is for this House to put forward what the Senate put forward. All I am asking, let us try to see if we can bring gun violence down in this country. Let us see if we can do this. As I said, what the Senate has put forward are modest steps. Do I think that we should be able to do more? Yes. Will that debate hopefully come in the future? I hope so. But this week let us see where the House is, because a week ago Thursday, I sat with the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) on the juvenile justice committee, and I sat there. I am usually a very optimistic person, but by the time we left that committee hearing, I said, oh, my God. We are not going to get anything done. The NRA leadership is going to come into this committee and water down those modest bills that were passed. Child safety locks. Closing the loopholes in our shows, our gun shows. Yet, if my colleagues listen to the NRA leadership, and unfortunately so many of their members will read this and get scared, they will get scared because they will say they are trying to take away my right to own a gun, there is nothing in the bills that we are trying to be passed, hopefully this week, that will take away the right of a legal citizen, a legal person to buy a gun. Will there be some inconveniences? Yes, there will be. But do my colleagues know what? Again, talking to gun owners, women gun owners, men gun owners, they are willing to take that inconvenience if it can save a child's life, if it can save someone's life. We see statistics that gun violence has come down in this country as far as homicides. What no one talks about is what it is costing this health care system, because medical technology, thank God, are saving people. That is not a statistic. My son is a statistic. He survived. He was not supposed to live. But there is no count on him and what it has cost this country to get him where he is today and the struggles that he has to go through on a daily basis to keep what he has worked so hard to get. People do not realize, when someone is injured as severely as Kevin was, he has to have physical therapy three times a week. He has to work out every single day. He is one person. Multiply that by all the accidents and certainly intentional shootings that happen in this country on a daily basis. We have estimates from $2 billion to $3 billion a year that it is costing our health care system, $2 billion to $3 billion a year. Gosh what we could do with that money. Gosh, we could push that into education. We could put that into our health care system. We could help our senior citizens. We could help our veterans. Yet, they do not want us to do anything. There are many Members here, good Members that are petrified of the NRA leadership, and they should be. They should be. What I am asking the American people, what I am asking every mother, every father, we need to hear from your voice starting now and going through until we get good legislation passed that could hopefully save a child's life, hopefully save a family from going through the grief that so many families go through, because I have to tell everyone I think, there are so many of us as victims that have been fighting so long for this, many victims before me, and the only reason we got involved is because we did not want another family to go through this. That is my job. That is why I am here. It is a job that I would love to be able to finish and go home to my garden, go home and maybe have some time to go skiing. But until that job is done, I am going to stay here, and I am going to fight tooth and nail, because that is what the people of my area voted me in for. We have a long way to go. I am asking those Members that I know will have a tough time to stand up. But if the American people do not stand with them, they are going to have too many Members here that are going to be afraid to vote on legislation that could save lives. Let us have a chance for a change, let us try and do the right thing for a change, let us see if we can do common sense legislation and maybe, and this is the good news, maybe we will see a drop, even more so in homicide. Maybe we will see a drop in suicides in our young people. Maybe we will see accidental deaths come down even more. But it will be amazing if we see a drop in the amount of money that is spent on health care on a daily basis for those that are surviving. We have an opportunity here. We have a moral obligation here. The women of this Congress have to stand up and stand together. But, again, the American people on a grassroots front have to have their voices heard, because I will tell them, the NRA leadership will win again; and we as Americans will actually be the losers. I thank my colleagues for taking this stand. I thank them for standing with us to try and make a difference.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the House amendments to the Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children's Protection Act. I want to thank the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce for their bipartisan work on this legislation. I also want to thank the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) for his excellent work as a sponsor of this legislation and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), my dear colleague. The bill before us today provides the resources for families to deal with the terrible issue of missing, exploited and runaway children. The National Center for Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children operates a National Resource Center and a toll-free hot line to provide assistance to state and local governments in finding missing children and preventing the exploitation of children. I believe this is important, Mr. Speaker. This legislation utilizes all of our law enforcement and child services tools once a child is missing, but the legislation also is designed to prevent the terrible occurrence of a missing, exploited or runaway child. I am glad that we are addressing this bill today. In the last 6 weeks, I have had a personal experience. I got a call late one Saturday night and it was my girlfriend of over 30 years. She said, ``Carolyn, I do not know what I am going to do. My daughter's two children have been kidnapped.'' With that, I gave her the information, only because I have learned about this through Congress. I gave her the phone numbers to call. And within hours, the photos of the missing children were put out across this country. I am happy to say that one child has been recovered. The other one is still missing. But with all the resources coming together, I am grateful that we, hopefully, will find the other child. Also, since being in Congress, one of the provisions of this bill is also helping with children that have nowhere else to go. I have been privileged to meet and work with a number of groups on Long Island; and I have to tell my colleagues, I was shocked on how many homeless children we have just on Long Island. We have found that we can give them shelter. We have found that we can give them training. We have found that they turn their lives around and become productive citizens. This is something that really helps our children across this Nation. It is something that we should be working on more and more. It shows, when we work together, we can make a difference here in Congress. I am glad that we are addressing this bill today, and I urge my colleagues to support this important bill. I thank the Committee on Education and the Workforce for their bipartisan work. I believe the true measure of our Government's efficiency can be found in the way we treat our children, the extent to which we protect our children. The legislation before us today demonstrates there is an important role in protecting our children and saving our children's lives. I thank everyone for the work that they have done, and may we continue to do this.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from California (Mr. George Miller), he and I are on the same Committee on Education and the Workforce; and in the last past year and a half, we have talked about violence in our schools, we have talked about what can be done. A week ago Tuesday, we had six young people come in to talk to us, talk to us about how gun violence has affected their lives. And it was very hard because here we had so many young people that faced death, lost their friends. There are many of us that are victims. A lot of us are adults. We try and say we can handle that kind of pain. But even as adults, it is always hard. But to hear the young people talk about what happened in their schools, it was a real heartbreaker. And yet, here in Congress we continually hear silence. I came to Congress to try and reduce gun violence in this country. That was a promise I made to my son. It is a promise I have made to my new grandson. It is something I plan on doing. And we have had our Littletons, we have had our shootings in Georgia, so many shootings. But I want people to look at this because this is where people do not realize what is happening. We have a Littleton every single day. Every single day, we lose 13 young people, whether it is an accidental death, whether it is a suicide, or whether it is a homicide, we lose 13 young children a day. We have an opportunity here in Congress to try and do something. We have an obligation to the people of America to do something. We have been talking about comprehensive reform on reducing gun violence and helping our young people. And yet in the Senate the other night, when they asked for more money for school counselors and psychologists, it was voted down. That can be part of a comprehensive package. No one is saying that it is not just guns. There are a lot of factors that go into gun violence. The young fellow in Georgia, when he shot six of his classmates, he was really on the verge of suicide. He still does not understand why he did what he did. We can help a lot of these kids. What I am hearing constantly is, this is too big for all of us to handle. We cannot do anything about it. But do my colleagues know what? That is what we hear when they want defeat before they even start. We have to change the debate. When I am home in my district, I have NRA members that come up to me all the time, ``Carolyn, we support what you are doing.'' But then we have so many Members that are afraid of the NRA leadership. They are afraid of what they can do to them as congresspersons. Certainly, they are not going to come after me about guns in my district because the people in my district support me on what I am trying to do. But we have Members here, and they have every right to be afraid of the NRA because the NRA will come in and say things about the Member that have absolutely nothing to do with guns, or make up lies. And they do make up lies. What I am asking the American people, the mothers, the fathers of this land, call their congresspersons, give them the support that they need. Because if we only hear from one side, I guarantee my colleagues, in a couple of months, we will be back here when school opens again and there will be another shooting in the school and people will say, why can we not do something? A year ago, when we had a committee hearing, a psychologist said it was not a matter of if there would be another school shooting, it was a matter of when there would be another school shooting. But a lot of these young people that were shot, killed, injured, they did not make the newspapers across the country. They might have made it in their hometown newspaper, but they did not make it on the front pages, because they are all individuals. My colleague before me talked about a health care crisis. We have four young people left in Colorado that have spinal cord injuries. Do you know what it is going to cost the American people on health care? The estimates, the low estimates of health care to our young people on a yearly basis for those that survive their injuries is $14 billion. $14 billion. Can you imagine what we could do with that? Can you imagine what we could do with that money here in Congress? Education, health care, all the things that we want to do. I am asking every mom, every dad, let us hear from you. We have to hear your voices. Grassroots, that is what we need. That is what changes and certainly motivates this Congress, because if they do not, there are a number of us that will continue to fight to reduce gun violence in this country, but it would be nice if we had a few more voices to be heard so we could give our colleagues the strength to do the right thing. They have got to hear from you. If you want to make a difference, then your voice does count. Do not sit there saying, ``Oh, so and so will call. I don't have to.'' You have to let the Congresspeople here know what you want. Then we will win.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Chabad of the Five Towns on the occasion of its Second Annual Dinner to ``Celebrate the Dream,'' on May 25th, 1999 and their honorees Mr. and Mrs. Simon Eisdorfer, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Mark, Dr. and Mrs. Stanley Nussbaum and Dr. and Mrs. Justin Cohen. I would also like to pay tribute to their spiritual leader, Rabbi Shneur Wolowik, who guidance, dedication, compassion and spirituality has helped Charbad of the Five Towns reach this milestone. Chabad of the Five Towns opened its doors four years ago with the mission of translating deeply-rooted Jewish concepts into a practical foundation of life, just as the Chabad Jubavitch movement has done for over two centuries. Chabad reaches out to fellow Jews on a global scale with over 2,300 centers worldwide. In the Five Towns, they have helped hundreds of families both spiritually and materially, whether it be a new immigrant, someone in need, a youth in trouble, or a family or individual who wants to learn more about their heritage, Chabad is there to help. In addition, they believe Judaism should be celebrated with joy, excitement, and enthusiasm, whether it be a holiday celebration, a Passover Seder, a Shabbaton Dinner, a family barbecue, or an outing. Most importantly, Chabad sees its children as proud Americans, knowledgeable of our country's rich history and democratic ideals, and is pleased with the special relationship between Israel and the United States. I commend Chabad for its philosophy of inclusion and acceptance, treating every human being as special and worthy, deserving of attention and support, regardless of their religious affiliation or background. It is this embracing of all, without expecting anything in return, that has given impetus to the impressive growth of the Chabad of the Five Towns. After only four years, they are now ``Celebrating the Dream'' of a beautiful new expanded facility in which they can continue to serve the community. I wish to thank them for their tireless efforts and outstanding contributions that have bettered the lives of so many.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I stand here tonight to talk about the violence in our schools. As the gentlewoman from Texas had pointed out, everyone is trying to put the blame on everybody else. I think there is enough blame to go around for everyone. But let us stop blaming and let us start looking for solutions. Over the last year and a half, we have had three committee hearings and we have had two special hearings, and we started to look into the violence from our schools but also the violence in some of our young people. There were a lot of different factors: Mental health is something that we should be looking into, especially with our schools; our family issues that should be at home. We should be looking into those issues. But in each and every shooting, 13 young people that die every single day, is one common factor; that is, the easy access to guns. That is something that we can do. We can deal with all the other issues. Today we held a hearing in the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Several students had been victims of school violence in Littleton, West Paducah, Springfield, Oregon showed great courage in coming to Congress to talk about their experiences through the shootings in their schools. The one thing I heard from all of them was the pain, the pain that they are still suffering. That is a pain that I understand very deeply. And I told one of the young men, even after the first anniversary, the pain does not get any easier. My family goes through the pain, and it will be 6 years this December. But that is why I came to Congress. I came to Congress to try to reduce gun violence in this country. I came to Congress so that hopefully other families would not have to go through what my family went through, and certainly the other members who I consider family now from the Long Island Railroad shooting. People keep saying we cannot do something about this. I do not believe that. I believe we can do something. And I know I am hearing all the time that this is a slippery slope where I am just trying to take away guns. I have never said that. I do not care if someone owns a gun. But if they own a gun, I do believe they have a responsibility for that particular product, and I feel very deeply about that. I have talked to many gun owners, women gun owners, men gun owners, and they are saying they realize that it is their product and they should take more responsibility for it. So I think if we take that premise and start to work on it, there are common sense solutions and I think it is something that we can work towards here. What scares me the most about being here in Congress is sometimes they will do so many delaying techniques and, hopefully, it will go away. The sad truth is this is not going to go away. Here we are 5 weeks from the shooting in Colorado, and people are still talking about it. And I think this hit home the hardest because we have had so many school shootings and now parents are scared. Students are scared. And when we ask our students what can we do, they come up with some really good solutions. One thing they do not want, they do not want their schools filled with metal detectors. Our schools are not meant to be prisons. It is not meant for our teachers to be under the atmosphere of possibly a young person having a gun. We know where those guns come from. A majority of them are legal. They come from home. It is up to the parents, the adults, to take responsibility that their child does not get a gun. Our young people that are having mental health problems and have a bad day, as a lot of teenagers do, commit too many suicides every single day. That is unacceptable. We can save those kids. The accidental deaths, we can save those kids. The homicides, we can save a lot of those kids. I know that we cannot save every child. I wish we could. But that does not mean that we should not go forward to try and save as many young people as we can. We are the adults. We have the responsibility to make a difference in our children's lives, and to the point to where again this year I am praying that the schools close without another incident. We did that a year ago. And we have done nothing. Are we going to let this summer go by? Schools open again in September, and are we going to pray that another shooting does not start? But, again, this is about the children every single day. That is where we cannot get lost on it. Thirteen children a day. That is a Littleton every single day. But it is a young child here and there and everywhere, and it does not make the papers. Or we have become so insensitized to the violence around us. We should never do that. We should see each other as the good human beings as we are in this country, and we should try to all work together. I wish the NRA would work with me. I wish the NRA would come and say, okay, we have a problem. Let us try to come up with solutions. I know they do not like child safety locks, but they can save lives. There is responsibility on the adults that a gun does not get into someone's hand. This is a responsibility. We should be working together. The movie industry, we should be working together. Videos, we should be working together to come up with solutions. But I think there is one thing that we have to point out. Our young people in this country are good kids. I have the pleasure of being with them a lot, working on community projects in my district, and I see this going around in the country: Our young people caring, going into nursing homes. Our young people caring, raising money for different organizations, whether it is breast cancer or Alzheimer's. They do not like this idea that we are blaming them and that they have no morals. I happen to think that this country has a lot of morals. And I meet those people on a daily basis. Do we have problems with some? It is a very small percentage. Do they sometimes make our lives miserable? Yes, they do. But that does not mean we should do a blanket cover and say the whole country is like that. I think if anyone ever looks around and sees how we responded to the people of Oklahoma when they had the tornadoes, this is a caring country. We are there for each other. And that is how we can solve the problems of the gun violence in this country, by all of us coming together and coming up with common sense solutions. It is something I believe in. I certainly talk to enough people about it. What scares me again, though, is the silence that we might hear in this Congress. We cannot have silence any longer. We have to do something. The American people are demanding that we do something. But, unfortunately, unless the American people send their message, their voices here to Congress, that is the only way we are going to get something done. I have asked the Speaker of the House to meet with me, I have not heard from him, to talk about my proposals on how to reduce gun violence in this country. But I am very encouraged. This evening he did a press conference and started to talk about maybe we should find common sense ground to stop the gun violence in this country. That to me is encouraging. That means a door is open. That means we can try and work together. As long as I am here in Congress, I will work as hard as I can to reduce gun violence in this country, my goal going back 5 years ago, when I promised my son that I would try to make sure that no family would go through what we went through. And my son has gotten married now and his life is going on, and he just had a son in November. That means I am a new grandmother. So I have got to work a little bit harder because I want my son to feel safe, but I want my grandson to certainly live in a safe country. And I know that if we work together, we can do it. I know a lot of people are very shocked sometimes on the statistics, and I do not particularly care to read statistics because I think it dries over. But I do not think people realize, as I said earlier, 13 children die at the hand of a gun; 28 children die and teenagers are murdered; 1,309 children in teenage suicides; 468 children in their teens accidentally die from shootings. That is every single year, every single year. One of our recent congressional testimonies demonstrates the need for Federal legislation on kids and guns. An angry child who has access to a gun will use it because it is there and it is in that child's hands. ``I realize that gun control is a complex issue in our country, but I also know that guns represent the single greatest threat to educators and to schoolchildren.'' That was by Scott Polland, National Association of School Psychologists. This is a testimony before the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth and Families, United States House of Representatives, on my Committee on Education and the Workforce on March 11, 1999: ``An international comparison of 26 industrial countries found that the firearm death rate for U.S. children younger than 15 years old was nearly 12 times higher than any of the children in any of the other 25 countries combined.'' That came from the Centers for Disease Control. ``We need better information on how our children get guns. That is why the Children's Gun Violence Prevention Act expands our Federal program for tracing guns used in juvenile crime. Research should be expanded on gun markets to educate the flow of firearms from the legitimate sector to the hands of minors and criminals and how this flow might effectively be reduced.'' A few years ago up in Boston in what they called the ``Boston Project,'' they started tracing guns that were used in juvenile homicides and juvenile crimes. Once they started tracing these guns to the illegal gun dealers, they were able to have for 40 months, 40 months, not one child died because we got rid of the illegal guns and we educated our adults. Now, if we can do that in Boston, why can we not do that across this country? Where I come from in New York, it is very hard to get a gun legally. They have to go through a background check, but eventually they will get it. The problem with New York is all the guns that come into our State are illegal guns, they are guns that we have no control over. What are we supposed to do? Put up a barbed wire fence around New York because we decide that we are going to try to make it safer? And it has made a difference and it has made a big difference, but there is more that we can do. As a nurse, we hear that homicide rates are down, and thank God they are. What no one is talking about is what it is costing our health care system for those that are surviving. I know the medical care that my son received and still continues to receive and will have to receive for the rest of his life is costing this government a lot of money. We have four young people in Littleton, Colorado, still in the hospital with spinal cord injuries because of the shootings. The health care that they are going to need. The estimates of health care due to gun violence in this country is almost up to $20 billion a year. $20 billion a year. Could we not take that money and put it back into our health care system? Could we not put that towards our educational system? It would help so many of us. We have an obligation here in Congress. It should not be a battle between Republicans and Democrats. It should be something that we should be working out together and to do the right thing as far as our children and the safety of our children. This is not a slippery road. This is not somewhere we are trying to take away the right of someone to own a gun, but we are asking for responsibility. Mr. Speaker, I plan on being here as much as I can to talk about this subject. There is one more thing that I will ask. The American people have to get involved in this debate and they have to, if they want to change, their voices have to be heard here, and our Congressmen and certainly our Senators need to hear from all Americans.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the graduation of the Vocational Independence Program students (VIP) at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in Central Islip, New York. It was my great pleasure to meet with these students in Washington, D.C. last month. They are a wonderful group and I am very proud of their achievement. The Vocational Independence Program was founded in 1987 by Jim Rein, Dave Finkelstein and Neal Nelson. VIP is a work/study recreational program that establishes a transition for sixteen to twenty-one year old learning disabled young adults considering post-secondary career options. Soon after its creation, the program developed into what is the current year-round VIP program. The program provides continuing academic exposure to the students and as training for varied vocational options, work experiences and social and independent living skills development. As a part of the campus of NYIT, the students are able to take college beyond its special curriculum. In our meeting last month, I was impressed with the VIP students keen understanding of how government works and the depth of their questions about my job and working in Congress. They have certainly benefitted from their various studies and trips outside the classroom. These experiences were a fine supplement to their excellent classroom curriculum. As someone with a learning disability, I commend the students for not allowing their own disabilities to prevent them from attending college and moving into the workforce. They have demonstrated a determination and quest for knowledge which all students should aspire. My best wishes to each of the graduates and their teachers, families and friends. I wish you great success now and in the future.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, why won't this Congress listen to the American people and allow us to pass common sense laws to keep guns out of the hands of children? I was optimistic when I first learned the other body would take-up amendments drafted to keep guns away from our children. I thought they may set an example for the House to follow by putting politics aside to save our children from gun violence. But what happened? The other body defeated a simple, common sense measure that would have tightened regulations on the sale of guns at gun shows. I ask you, why is this a political issue? How many more children will have to die before Congress wakes up and passes laws to save young lives? I want you to know that we will not give up. We will only fight harder for what the American people want--common sense measures to keep guns away from our kids and off our school campuses. My office alone has heard from thousands of people throughout this country who support my legislation, the Children's Gun Violence Prevention Act. Today, a young student on Long Island let me know that her school sent a petition to the Speaker of this House, asking him to address the issue of children and guns. Now more than ever, we need to hear from every school and from every parent in this nation. Call, write, e-mail--flood the halls of Congress with your demands--let this Congress know that you want meaningful legislation passed to save our children from gun violence. Every day that goes by with more silence, we lose 13 more kids.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Senate voted down a loophole that could have been closed as far as guns being sold at gun shows. This was a very moderate request so that people, people with felonies, criminals, could not go to gun shows and buy guns that could possibly be used or sold to our young people. Last month when we had the shooting in Littleton, Colorado, it was something that all of us as victims were dreading. We always knew it was not a matter of if there would be another shooting in our schools, it all came down to a matter of when. How did I know that? I knew that because we have had five committee hearings here in the House. We have brought in all the experts. We were trying to analyze from the five shootings in our schools what could be done, what can we do. After Littleton, the American people said, we have to do something, and yet we hear silence here in the halls of Congress and now, obviously, in the Senate. What people forget is that every single day in this country 13 of our young people die through homicide, accidental deaths and suicides. People forget about those young people on a daily basis. Here they say there is nothing we can do. I do not believe that. I believe with sensible, moderate changes on how our young people get guns we can make a big difference. I know we will not be able to save all our children, but we certainly should do everything that we can to save as many as we can. I also know if the American people, the mothers, the fathers, students, teachers, if they do not become involved in this debate, we will not do anything here in the House. There are many of us that want to fight to save our children, to make sure our children feel safe when they go to the schools, but we need help. We need help because we have to hear from the American people. We need grass-root organizations. We need people to call here in Congress, call their Senator, e-mail them and say, ``We want something done.'' When there is such a high percentage of Americans willing to make the sacrifice of being inconvenienced, inconvenienced to hopefully have more safety for our children, they are willing to do it. And yet those in the Senate and here in the House we hear nothing from. It is wrong. All we want is to try and have safe schools, to save our children. That is something that we are supposed to be doing here. That is why I came to Congress, to reduce gun violence, not to take away the right of someone to own a gun. I have never intended that. All I am saying is, if someone owns a gun, they are responsible for it and they have to make sure that our young people do not get into it. I know everyone is talking about the media, videos, mental health. These are all important issues. But responsibility with the parents, that is important also. We can deal with all these things. We have all the information. Anyone can go to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and we will give them all the information they need. There was one thing in common in every single one of the school shootings, the easy access of guns to our young people. I do not know what it will take to have the Members here and the Senate wake up. I do not know what it will take. I dread what it might take. We can make a difference. The American people have said enough is enough. We should listen to them. Why won't this Congress listen to the American people and allow us to pass common sense laws to keep guns out of the hands of our children? Instead of listening to the American people, the Senate listened to the NRA leadership. Instead of making the laws stronger to stop kids and criminals from buying guns, the Senate has made the laws weaker. As a mother, grandmother and Member of Congress, I am deeply saddened by the Senate's vote. The American people don't want this to be about politics but that's exactly what it is. How many more children will have to die before Congress wakes up and passes laws to save young lives? We will not give up. We will fight harder for what the American people want--common sense measures to keep guns away from our kids and off our school campuses. My office alone has heard from thousands of people throughout this country who support legislation to address the deadly combination of children and guns. Now more than ever, we need to hear from every school and from every parent in this nation. Call, write, e-mail--flood the halls of Congress with your demands--let this Congress know that you want meaningful legislation passed to save our children from gun violence. Every day that goes by with more silence from this Congress, we lose 13 more kids.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove the name of the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Ryun) as a cosponsor of H.R. 1342.

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York

Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, a number of us here today are talking about trying to save our children. The tragedy that happened in Littleton, Colorado, last month certainly struck this Nation. What a lot of people do not know is that we lose 13 children every single day. That is a classroom every 2 days. I am hoping that here, in Congress, we will address this in a bipartisan way. Because the American people want their children to be safe. There are solutions that we can come to. There are solutions that we can work together on to try to save our children on a daily basis. Mr. Speaker, I am asking the people of America to call and e-mail all their Congressmen and say, ``We want an open debate.'' Let this not be a fight. Let us do the right thing. Let us have the debate. Let us talk about all the things that we see going wrong and try to make a correction. That is why I came to Congress. That is why I am here, to try to reduce gun violence in this country.