Martin Heinrich: “I am deeply saddened that the words I am about to deliver even need to be said in the first place, but I have to ask…”

“I am deeply saddened that the words I am about to deliver even need to be said in the first place, but I have to ask: How can we possibly continue to move forward or, as in the majority leader's own words, ``plow right through'' to confirm a lifetime appointment on our Nation's Supreme Court in the wake of both credible allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against the nominee Brett Kavanaugh and serious questions concerning his judicial temperament? Republicans are ignoring very real questions about his credibility and are intent on hiding his record. Even worse, they are in such a rush that most of them did not even want the FBI to reopen Judge Kavanaugh's background check to help us get to the bottom of this, and when the FBI did reopen the investigation, the White House limited its scope so much it did not follow multiple credible leads. Now we as Senators have barely 24 hours to review their findings before scrambling to a vote. As the whole Nation watches, what message is the U.S. Senate sending to our children, to women, to victims of sexual assault about the values we stand for? Do they not matter? Is this the society that we want our sons and daughters to grow up in? We all know full well the weight of who fills this deciding vote on our Nation's highest Court.…”