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Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague from Minnesota Senator Smith on a somber anniversary week for our State and for our country.

One year ago, a horrific act of political violence took two Minnesotans from us who represented the best of our State, the best of us, Minnesota State Representative and our former Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her dear husband Mark Hortman.

This is them with their kids, with Colin and Sophie who have been true to their memories since that date, grieving through the entire time, but always holding up their parents' memories.

That same night, State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot. Despite taking nine bullets, as his wife Yvette took eight, John has courageously returned to the State senate with a tireless dedication to improving the lives of Minnesotans.

Melissa and Mark left behind a State in mourning, but their two incredible children Colin and Sophie rose through their grief and best captured their parents' legacy as they said:

The best way to honor our parents' memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.

And that is exactly what Minnesotans have done. Thousands lined up to pay their respects to the Hortmans at the State capitol where Melissa was the first woman in Minnesota to lie in state. People planted trees to honor Melissa's efforts to strengthen urban and rural forests.

Donations poured in to Helping Paws the service dog nonprofit where the Hortmans volunteered and where their beloved Gilbert, who was also shot that night, was trained.

The organization established the Hortman Heroes Fund to train service dogs to help first responders and veterans with PTSD. Their dog Gilbert was actually going to be part of that program. And they trained their dog, but in the end, it was decided their dog was just too friendly to be part of the program in the end, and Melissa and Mark were happy to have him back. And he died with them that weekend.

Minnesota stood up in their names, for Gilbert, for their family, and mostly for Melissa and Mark, and we remember them.

Our State has lost a lot this year. Just weeks after we lost Melissa and Mark, we were once again shaken to our core by a deadly mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and then the winter with 3,000 Federal Agents and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Our State has been at the center of America's heartbreak, but we have also been at the center of its courage and its hope. No one exemplified our State's courage and hope more than Melissa. I wish everyone in this Chamber knew Melissa. We treasured her in Minnesota. She is the epitome of what you want in a public servant, the epitome of someone who stood up for her neighbors.

I first got to know her when we were both running for office around the same time, both with little kids, me for the county attorney's office, her for State legislature.

We went door to door together, and even back then it seemed like she knew every story and every family in her district. She left a lasting impact on each of us, and over her 20 years in the Minnesota State House, she left a lasting impact on our State. As minority leader and then speaker, Melissa always guided her caucus with conviction and a sense of humor. She was always there to support her colleagues, but she also wasn't afraid to call out the all-male card game taking place when they should have been on the floor debating.

And after being chosen by her colleagues to be their speaker, the first thing she did for the State house was to get rid of the speaker's mute button because Melissa always listened to her colleagues, and she said at the time:

I have a gavel . . . and a gavel is good enough for me.

And with that gavel, Melissa became one of the most consequential and arguably the best speakers in the history of our State. Because of Melissa, all Minnesota students get a school lunch so hunger doesn't stop them from learning and reaching their potential.

Because of Melissa, Minnesota voters can cast a ballot that works best for them, whether that is early voting, mail-in voting, or same- day registration.

Because of Melissa, women in Minnesota can access reproductive care and continue to make their own decisions about their futures.

And because of Melissa, who created the Minnesota Community Solar Program, which now bears her name, our State is a leader in clean energy and protecting the environment.

She was a generational leader. She led with integrity and courage. She consistently reached across the aisle to make life better for Minnesotans.

And her husband Mark, he was compassionate, smart, kind. I met so many people who worked with him in his workplace over the years and loved him just as much as the legislators loved Melissa.

As we remember Melissa and Mark, we must also continue to address the significant increase in threats and acts of political violence we have seen across the country against people of both parties. I want to extend my gratitude to the local, State, and Federal law enforcement officers who responded that night and who have continued to be there for our State.

It was Melissa, who once said that ``in politics, often the easiest thing for anyone to do is run to a microphone, sharpen their dagger, and see who has the best press conference. But what's excruciatingly difficult in all this high emotion is to get people to the table,'' she said, ``and to slog through the work that has to happen.''

She was right then, and her words hold true today. Each of us has a responsibility to bring more people to the table and to take on the hard work.

Melissa and Mark met as volunteers, working to help kids in their community, and their dedication to serving others never wavered.

In her wallet, in her purse, after she died, they found a prayer that she always carried, by St. Francis of Assisi. It said this. It said:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

May we all be instruments of peace just like Melissa.

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