Tina Smith: “if there were a Senator here objecting to laying aside an amendment, I apologize to him or her, but I make no apology…”

“if there were a Senator here objecting to laying aside an amendment, I apologize to him or her, but I make no apology for the amendment I am submitting. The Senate knows well the substance of this amendment because we have debated it in every Congress because it needs to be debated. But, more importantly, it needs to be passed; that is, the whole issue of hate crimes. People will wonder why it is on a defense authorization. The answer is simply: Because the military, as I will demonstrate, is not immune to the scourge of hate crimes in our country. Second, this is a piece of legislation that needs to pass, and this issue needs to get as far in the process as possible, and I hope to the desk of the President so it can be signed into law. It needs to be taken up as well because it has overwhelming support in the Senate. On this Defense authorization and in a previous Congress, 57 Senators voted in favor of this amendment. I believe it will have well over 60 this time. Unfortunately, despite the fact that a majority of Senators support the legislation, Senator Kennedy and I have felt we need to look for opportunities where there is an obvious nexus between this needed law and a piece of legislation that is likely to move. The last time, 13 Republicans voted in favor of this legislation. I urge more to do so at this time.”