A resolution honoring the memories of the victims of the senseless attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.

Madam President, it is hard to forget the 14th of February in the year 2018, when I was actually here in the U.S. Senate when news reports began to emerge that there had been a shooting at a school in South Florida, where I live.

I was at the time--or I am still now, but at the time, all four of my kids were in school in South Florida, and as a parent, the first thing that flashes in your mind is, Where? Which schools was it?

Fortunately, we were blessed by God's grace that it was not any of the schools that my children were in, but, sadly, there were other Floridians on that day who were impacted in ways that I think will clearly forever change their lives, but I think it has also impacted the Nation.

It is now well known what happened on that terrible day, a day of complete horror that shocked the Nation, and today, we stop and remember those who lost their lives on that day and those whose bravery saved lives on that day.

We have learned much since that day about the things that went wrong with law enforcement, with the FBI, with local authorities, and with the school district, and that work continues. The monster who committed this act is now facing the justice of the Florida court system and will soon be sentenced.

But I wanted to spend the brief time we have to talk about it here today focusing on what has happened since that day and, in particular, the extraordinary work of some of the parents of those children who lost their lives on that tragic day, because they have turned their pain into activism in ways that have had concrete and meaningful impact.

One in particular is Max Schachter and his family, who, as they dove into this, realized that there was no place where school districts could go and learn about the best practices for how to safeguard a school or any facility, for that matter. Everyone was off doing their own thing, being pitched contracts and ideas by different companies that said: We can add this, and we can give you that. But there didn't seem to be a single place where you could go and learn the best practices to ensure the safety of our students.

That began to change because of his work. He lost a son, Alex, on that day, but from that pain, he has become a national leader on the issue of a Federal clearinghouse, which now exists.

The previous administration, the Trump administration, took executive action on it. Today, there exists a

clearinghouse that I hope we can put into statute through the Luke and Alex School Safety Act to make it permanent. It has become a resource where schools across the country are now able to, on an ongoing, real- time basis, see whether what they have in place is the highest standard and the most effective. Every time there are improvements, it is updated. It has had a meaningful impact. There are schools across this country that had vulnerabilities they didn't recognize. Those vulnerabilities aren't just about physical hardening of buildings and so forth; it is about identifying and getting ahead of these problems.

Sadly, what we learned from many of these tragedies is that, well before that day, there are clear signs that something is about to happen.

I think one of the things that most struck me is that multiple families told me that as soon as the news came out that this had happened, everyone knew who it was. Without even having heard the name, everyone knew who did it because the signs had been there and they had been missed.

The ability of school districts to now recognize that and get ahead of it is just one of the many innovations that are now in place because of the work of Max and his family in honor of their son Alex and of all those who suffered greatly on that day.

So I think it is important not just to obviously remember the extraordinary pain and horrific events of that moment but also to remember how these brave American families have since that day taken their pain and turned it into action and that today, across this country, many of our schools are better positioned to prevent this from ever happening to anyone else because of what they have done with this tragedy.

I wanted to take this moment today to commemorate and recognize their hard work and the work they and other families are doing not simply to raise awareness but to spur real, concrete action that makes a meaningful difference.

I now want to turn it over to my colleague from Florida, who was Governor on that terrible day and dealt with this all firsthand.

Madam President, almost 4 years ago, on February 14, 2018, the world witnessed a senseless attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.

I am proud to join my colleague Senator Rubio to introduce this resolution which honors the 17 victims of the tragic shooting: 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, and Peter Wang.

I often think of these innocent lives who were lost way too early. They were sons, daughters, parents, and partners. Some were educators, athletes, musicians; many of them, just kids with a life full of promise ahead of them. My heart breaks knowing that they will never get to pursue their dreams and that their families will always have a piece of their heart missing.

Since that horrific day, I have worked closely with many of the victims' families to ensure no family has to experience that again.

While I was Governor, we passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act to make sure our State does everything possible to ensure this does not happen again.

Now as a U.S. Senator, I am fighting for improvements on the Federal level, including the Luke and Alex School Safety Act, named after Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, which builds on our work to keep schools safe.

I am also working with my colleagues to pass the bipartisan EAGLES Act, which improves school safety for our students and teachers and provides more resources to law enforcement to prevent future tragedies from happening.

While, unfortunately, we cannot bring back the lives lost on that tragic day nearly 4 years ago, I will always work to honor them and do everything in my power to protect our students and educators and ensure they have a safe environment to learn and succeed.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 508, which is at the desk.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I yield the floor.