Sam Farr: “Thank you very much, Congresswoman Edwards, for your leadership before you even became a Member of Congress, but…”

“Thank you very much, Congresswoman Edwards, for your leadership before you even became a Member of Congress, but especially tonight to lead this discussion. I can't believe what we're about to do tomorrow in a vote to reauthorize. I was here in 1994 when we were so proud of creating this historical legislation to protect women against violence. It wasn't some women; it was all women. And now we're on the verge, 18 years later, of saying, well, let's change that. What's so appalling about it is we're going to take that in a debate tomorrow in this room, where every time we're in session we start that session by getting up and taking a pledge to that flag behind you saying ``justice for all.'' That's our role. We're elected here to bring about justice for all. We just had a census in the United States. In that census, we didn't just count some people because they were citizens, some people because they were rich, some people because they were this or that or had an education. We counted every living being in the United States. Why? Because the laws of this country are supposed to be protecting and enhancing and providing a quality of life for every living being. Now we're on the verge, in an election year--when the majority of voters in this country are women--to say to the women of this country, Oh, by the way, we're going to start taking back some of the provisions that have protected you. You know, I rise, as Mr.…”