Political Quotes

“I wish to salute the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee for the incredible work he has done to bring us to this moment. I held a roundtable in New Jersey with about 35 organizations that deal with the challenge of violence against women. They unequivocally expressed their support for what we are doing here today and the importance in the lives of women whom they deal with every day. I know my friends on the other side of the aisle are trying to strip provisions that protect women from discrimination and abuse in certain categories. In my view, violence against any woman is still violence. The Nation has been outraged about violence against women for almost two decades. We have seen the violence. We continue to fight against it. We have tried to end it. In my mind, there is no doubt--and I would find it very hard to understand why anyone would stand in the way of denouncing violence against any woman, no matter who they are, no matter what their class is. I am hard-pressed to understand why anyone would choose to exclude violence against certain women; turn back the clock to a time when such violence was not recognized, was not a national disgrace, and make a distinction when and against whom such violence meets our threshold of outrage. In my mind, there can be no such threshold, no such distinction. Violence against any woman is an outrage, plain and simple.…”