Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this is the first time I have had the opportunity to address my colleagues on the Senate floor since I was appointed to fill the seat of our late friend and colleague John McCain. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on a matter of great importance, both to this body and to the people of the United States of America; namely, the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh as Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. I would like to address this in five general areas, beginning with a couple of preliminary areas of discussion. The first concerns my work right after I came to the Senate in 1995 to try to adopt a constitutional amendment for the victims of crimes. We called it a crime victims' rights amendment. I had become acutely aware of the problems crime victims faced, especially those who have suffered some kind of sexual assault. Through personal interviews and discussions with victims, victims' rights groups, with prosecutors and others, with research and a great deal of reading and hearing from victims' groups, law enforcement, and others, I became convinced that the only way we could guarantee the rights of these victims and bring justice to them would be through the adoption of the constitutional amendment doing so. I worked with Senator Dianne Feinstein. The two of us joined together in this effort, and we spent countless hours and many months trying to persuade our colleagues that this was the way to proceed.…”