To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6223 Maple Street, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the "Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office".

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 5 minutes.

Madam President, I rise to speak about yesterday's horrific tragedy in Texas, and I won't be long; I know we have votes coming up.

But I wanted to start by expressing, I think, both the grief and the outrage that we see all across the country that,

yet again--and not just another tragedy. In this case, the death of the 19 children and 2 adults, at least that is the latest reporting, but also indicating that the deaths took place because an armed gunman came into a school with body armor protecting him from the response from any law enforcement.

So we have another example, in barely less than a week, where a gunman goes into a setting in a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, and now into a school where second graders, third graders, and fourth graders are killed because he has a high-powered weapon, and he is fully protected from any law enforcement or any other response. And we are supposed to just get used to this, I guess. That seems to be the response here in Washington.

Now, this isn't a problem of Congress, more broadly, or the executive branch of our government. This is a problem--the failure to address this problem, even to pass something as simple as background check legislation--this is a problem in the Senate of one side. You have got 50 U.S. Senators who are Republicans who have refused now for years to pass anything remotely resembling commonsense gun measures.

I would support a whole series of bills that we could talk about. We don't have time today. But at least the U.S. Senate should be able to pass a background check bill supported by 90 percent of the American people.

And you have to ask, why is that? And it is not simply that you have so many Republicans who are beholden to the gun lobby. That is obvious. That is right in front of us.

The other problem is--and I think it is related to the question of the power of the gun lobby in one party--you have got a whole party that seems to want to surrender to this problem, to throw up their hands and say: ``There is nothing the most powerful Nation in the world can do, nothing at all the most powerful nation in the world can do to stop the killing, over and over again, of Americans,'' and especially in the context of the horror--the unspeakable horror--yesterday of second, third, and fourth graders being gunned down in a manner that is so horrific that some of them can't be identified because of the power of the weapon and the number of bullets that can be discharged in a matter of seconds. So even if law enforcement gets there and isn't confronting body armor, no law enforcement is fast enough to get to a scene in seconds to prevent a horrific mass shooting.

So we are supposed to accept the fact, as Americans--I guess this is what the Republican position is--that we should surrender to this problem. The most powerful Nation in the world can't stop second, third, and fourth graders from being murdered in schools. The most powerful country in the world, I guess, can't prevent the shooting we saw in Buffalo. And you can go down the list of other tragedies.

This is a uniquely American problem. No other country that is similarly situated--has an economy like ours as a country even close to what we have--no other country has this problem and has any kind of change or reform or action being blocked by one side. And I know there is work that has to be done at the State legislative level and all that.

But right here, we could vote this week on a background check bill, and it would be supported overwhelmingly.

But think about this, and I will end with this. Think about if we had the same attitude about 9/11. What if someone said right after 9/11: ``You know what, there is really nothing we can do as Americans to stop a foreign terrorist from taking an airplane into a building or crashing an airplane into the Pentagon or the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. There is nothing we can do about that so we just have to get used to that reality of terrorists doing that to our country''? No one would say that--then or now. We created an entire new Agency, the Department of Homeland Security. And guess what, a lot of those reforms that we made to protect Americans against terrorism worked. Just like no one said years ago, when we had these viruses and the potential of pandemics, that we shouldn't do anything about it even though we have the knowledge and the skill to create a vaccine.

We invested. We did what Americans do--confronted a big problem and did something about it.

What if during World War II, what if everyone stood up and said: ``You know, the Axis nations are pretty powerful. Those nations are pretty powerful. They have the most well-funded, sophisticated armies in the world, and there is nothing we can do in 1941 to take on the Axis powers''? We didn't say that.

It is un-American to surrender--to surrender to a problem. Now you have an entire political party in this Chamber that has not just surrendered to the lobby--that is objectionable and insulting enough-- but they surrendered to the problem; that there is nothing we can do about it. That, I would submit, is un-American. And it is about time that the Republicans in the Senate begin to be part of the solution to do something that Americans do all the time--confronting evil, like we did after 9/11; confronting terrorism or disease or whatever it is; and in this case to confront gun violence and do something about it, not sit around and pretend that there is nothing we can do. That is un- American.

We don't surrender. We are Americans. We take on tough problems like our entire history has shown. But we haven't taken on this problem.

What we should be saying to these families, in addition to offering our sympathy, is: Your government has failed you. Your government at the Federal level and your government at the State level, it has failed you. And in this case and in this Chamber it has failed because one side will not even entertain the idea of passing any gun measures. They have surrendered.

I yield the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4168) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6223 Maple Street, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the ``Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4168 to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6223 Maple Street as the Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office.

Petty Officer Charles Jackson French was born in Arkansas in 1919 and first enlisted in the United States Navy in 1937. In 1941, Petty Officer French completed his first enlistment but decided to reenlist after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor that December.

Petty Officer French served as a mess attendant on the USS Gregory when the military was racially segregated, but that did not stop him from rescuing 15 of his fellow injured sailors when their ship was attacked and sunk by Japanese gunfire.

Petty Officer French helped his crewmates into a life raft and tied it to himself, swimming for nearly 8 hours through nightfall and swarming sharks, until they were finally identified and rescued. For this, he received a letter of commendation from Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., in May of 1943.

After retiring from the military, Petty Officer French moved to Omaha before moving to San Diego where he passed away at the age of 37.

Mr. Speaker, naming a post office after Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French is a way to honor his dedication to his country. I encourage my colleagues to join me.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers as well. I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 4168. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4168 which would name a post office after Petty Officer Charles Jackson French.

Petty Officer French enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1937. He completed his first enlistment in 1941 but decided to reenlist after the horrendous attack on Pearl Harbor.

He served as a mess attendant on the USS Gregory where he saved 15 of his fellow sailors when their ship was attacked and sunk by Japanese gunfire. Officer French helped his fellow sailors into a lifeboat, tied it to himself, and swam for nearly 8 hours in the dark until they were finally rescued

After retiring from the military, Petty Officer French moved to Omaha and later California. His heroism is a true testament to the strength and bravery of our U.S. Navy. I strongly support this bill and encourage my colleagues to vote in support as well.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

As if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills, en bloc: Calendar No. 185, H.R. 767; Calendar No. 186, H.R. 1170; Calendar No. 187, H.R. 1444, Calendar No. 189, S. 2932; Calendar No. 325, S. 3825; Calendar No.

326, S. 3826; Calendar No. 328, H.R. 735; Calendar No. 329, H.R. 1298; Calendar No. 330, H.R. 2324; Calendar No. 332, H.R. 3579; Calendar No. 333, H.R. 3613; and Calendar No. 334, H.R. 4168.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills en bloc be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.