For the first time during President Obama's tenure, neither he nor Vice President Joe Biden delivered the White House's weekly address on Saturday.
This morning, the president stepped aside as a mother of one the 20 children gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut gave an emotional speech pleading for Congress to take action against gun violence.
Francine Wheeler spoke about her 6-year-old son Ben whose life was taken in December when 24-year-old Adam Lanza used a military-style weapon to kill 20 first graders and six educators at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Though media attention around the tragedy has died down, Wheeler said that the incident feels like it happened yesterday.
"I've heard people say that the tidal wave of anguish our country felt on 12/14 has receded - but not for us," Ms. Wheeler said with her husband, David, by her side. "To us, it feels as if it happened just yesterday. And in the four months since we lost our loved ones, thousands of other Americans have died at the end of a gun. Thousands of other families across the United States are also drowning in our grief."
She went on to urge the Senate to pass gun control legislation, using an avenue normally reserved for the president.
"Please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy," she said.
She continued saying, "Sometimes I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Firehouse for the boy who would never come home - the same firehouse that was home to Ben's Tiger Scout Den 6," Ms. Wheeler said. "But other times, I feel Ben's presence filling me with courage for what I have to do - for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon."
Last week, Newtown families lobbied Congress on Capitol Hill to take action which helped of nudge the Senate to vote to precede with debate on gun safety proposals. However, the initial vote does not guarantee the passage of the gun measure as some Republicans and Democrats say they will not support the final bill.
During her address which was prerecorded on Friday, Ms. Wheeler encouraged viewers and listeners to call their senators and "help this be the moment when real change begins."
In response, the Republicans' weekly attacked Mr. Obama's budget request.
"The president's budget isn't a compromise," said Representative Jackie Walorski of Indiana. "It's a blank check for more spending and more debt."