Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to take a moment to discuss the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act. This legislation, which Senator Feinstein sponsored and I cosponsored, would promote mandatory reporting of suspected abuse of young athletes and give survivors new tools to hold perpetrators accountable. As Senate Judiciary chairman, I last year convened a hearing on this legislation, which helped build momentum for its committee approval and passage. I am proud to have helped shepherd this bill through our committee and the Senate, and I am delighted that we are about to send this bill to the President for his signature. Our congressional hearing illustrated just how bad the problem of sexual abuse in youth sports has become, how long it went on, how many athletes were affected, and, in some cases, how slow the response was from those charged with ensuring these young athletes' safety. To say that I was alarmed by what we learned at that March 28 hearing would be a huge understatement. Abuse that occurs by someone in a position of trust, in what should be a safe environment, such as youth athletics programs, is simply outrageous. Sadly, however, sports officials adopted policies that may have allowed predators to victimize children long after they had good reason to suspect sexual abuse. Recently, we have heard reports that gymnastics officials took as long as 5 weeks to report suspected abuse to the FBI.…”