Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Throughout my career, I have worked on a number of crime victims' rights measures that, taken together, provide the mosaic of protections for all crime victims. As a member of the House of Representatives, I cosponsored the Sexual Assault Prevention Act--SAPA--which was incorporated into the Omnibus Crime Control Act signed into law by President Clinton in 1994. Among a number of reforms, SAPA increased penalties for stalking and sexual assault, and it changed the Federal Rules of Evidence to allow admission of prior sexual offenses in sexual assault cases. In 1997, I successfully petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to adopt this change to Arizona's rules of evidence. In 2004, I co-authored the Crime Victims' Rights Act with Senator Feinstein. This legislation included a bill of rights for victims of Federal crimes, including the right to be informed, present, and heard at critical stages of the proceedings. That bill was signed into law by President Bush. I also supported the 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which included a section Senator Cornyn and I wrote that expanded the Federal DNA collection program. Today, I am pleased to support the Hutchison/Grassley bill reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. I regret that there are competing versions of reauthorization, especially since I believe that virtually all of us support the current law.…”