Political Quotes

“before he yields the floor, I wish to commend my colleague from Connecticut in terms particularly--and I am going to go into some of the history with respect to this so-called zero tolerance policy because I think when we look back over history, there is a very big gap between the past pledges of zero tolerance for sexual assault and the realities of what we have seen. That is one of the key points the Senator from Connecticut has made, among many others. I thank him for it. It was a very valuable presentation. I also commend the Presiding Officer for her extraordinary work. Again and again, she has outlined what I think is very constructive; that is, the areas where there is common ground here, common ground to try to address an issue that I just went through with Senator Blumenthal. We have heard past pledges about it, and it has not really come to be. The Presiding Officer has done very fine work. Senator Gillibrand, Senator McCaskill, Senator Ayotte, I know the best, but a whole host of Senators have been interested in this issue. I also see my friend from Rhode Island Senator Reed. He and Senator Levin have been very interested in this issue over the years. So there has been plenty of good work. I think the question now really is: How are we going to make a fundamental break from policies that over the last couple of decades simply have not worked? Go back to the Tailhook scandal. That was in 1991.…”