Cory Booker: “reserving the right to object, I want to thank the Presiding Officer, and I also want to thank my friend Senator Lindsey…”

“reserving the right to object, I want to thank the Presiding Officer, and I also want to thank my friend Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been a partner on so many things involving criminal justice, on so many good things involving safety, has been a partner on, obviously, many things, and foreign policy as well. I want to object to the request by the Senator from South Carolina to pass the SHIELD Act by unanimous consent. But I really want to start by saying that I know we are talking about a deeply vital issue today that we must address as the U.S. Senate. I believe that the Senator from South Carolina and I have a common goal, and we see eye to eye. Anytime a person's privacy or bodily autonomy is violated, we have a duty to address the harm that they have experienced and seek solution so that we prevent the same thing from happening to others. He and I have talked about this in the committee multiple times. Congress must act when there are people who exploit others or harass them or set out to exact some twisted revenge on them by sharing nonconsensual images. They should be held accountable for the serious, emotional, psychological, and professional harm it can cause to victims. I believe this is what the sponsors of the SHIELD Act intend to do. But the bill offered today stands to have unintended consequences that I have discussed in committee and that need to be addressed. Many of these issues were addressed in committee in our markup of the bill.…”