Sandy Hook Victim's Mother to Deliver Obama's Weekly Address

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) -- The White House says the mother of a Newtown shooting victim will deliver the weekly presidential radio and Internet address.

President Barack Obama typically gives the talk, focusing on a topic that's in the news or a policy the White House is pushing.

This week, Obama has asked Francine Wheeler to deliver the address instead. Wheeler and her husband, David, lost their 6-year-old son Ben in the December schoolhouse shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., meet with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., after he announced a bipartisan deal on expanding background checks to more gun buyers, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 10, 2013. From left are David and Francine Wheeler, who lost their 6-year-old son Ben in the shooting, Katy Sherlach and her father Bill Sherlach, whose wife Mary Sherlach was killed. Credit: AP 

White House spokesman Jay Carney says Obama believes the voices of Newtown families have been critical to progress on gun control. The families have been in Washington lobbying members of Congress.

"Nobody has a more important and powerful perspective on the issue than the families who have lost loved ones," Carney said.

Francine Wheeler, mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Benjamin Wheeler, cries as she listens to Vice President Joe Biden speak during a gun violence conference in Danbury, Conn., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The conference, held near Newtown, where 26 lives were lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, was organized by members of the state's congressional delegation is to push President Barack Obama's gun control proposals. Credit: AP

The spokesman also added the following about Obama: "He believes their voices and resolve have been critical with the progress we’ve seen in the Senate."

The Senate cleared its first hurdle for gun control legislation on Thursday and will consider expanded background checks next week.

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