Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan Speak Out Act. One in three women in our country experiences sexual harassment in the workplace at some point in her career. This appalling behavior is unacceptable, but it will not stop if survivors are silenced. Let me be clear: any person who experiences sexual assault in the workplace or otherwise should be able to speak out and seek justice. NDAs and nondisparagement clauses have been used for far too long to silence survivors of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace and instead shield abusers and the companies that enable them. The Speak Out Act helps to fix this flawed system and restores survivors' voices. Contrary to some of the comments made by my colleagues across the aisle, this is a reasonable act that explicitly protects trade secrets and other proprietary information. It is carefully designed to remove the protection of predators. That is something we should all be in favor of. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues across the aisle to join me in supporting this critically important legislation so that those who wish to do so can hold perpetrators accountable and share their stories. This is something that should be important to all of us.”