He Has Been A Good President

Created
Tue, 23/07/2024 - 06:30
Updated
Tue, 23/07/2024 - 06:30
Sen. Chris Murphy: On this historic day, I want to tell you a story about Joe Biden, and what he did behind the scenes to make the historic 2022 gun bill – the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years – a reality. 1/ It starts with a phone call he made to me days after the Uvalde shooting.  2/ After the tragic Uvalde and Buffalo shootings, Biden wanted to give a prime time address to push the Congress to act. But several of his advisors told him not to waste one of his few prime time speeches on guns. Congress will never pass a gun bill, they told him.  3/ He called me to ask my opinion. In 2013, he and I had sat for hours with the Sandy Hook parents, and parents of kids killed in Hartford and Bridgeport. I knew how personal those families’ pain was to him. “I want to give this speech, even if a bill is a long shot,” he said.  4/ Days later, he called back and told me he had made up his mind to give the speech – bc he worried if he didn’t, the urgency would dissipate (Congress was on recess that week) and our chance to do something would be lost. Now, he wanted to go over the details of the address.  5/ He went through the speech with me, line by line, asking what words would spur on or hurt the bipartisan negotiations that had just begun. Most presidents would send a…