Blake Moore: “Thank you, Representative Slaughter. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question in order to allow us…”

“Thank you, Representative Slaughter. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question in order to allow us to consider the Violence Against Women Act. It is pathetic and it is disappointing that it has come to this--that we have to use procedural shenanigans to talk about an initiative that has been a bipartisan initiative since 1994. Violence against women in this country is not levied against just Democrats but Republicans as well; not blacks or whites or Hispanics but against Native American people as well; not just Christians or Muslims but Jews and nonreligious people--atheists--as well; not just rich people or poor people but middle class people as well; and not just against heterosexual women but homosexual couples as well. It knows no gender. It knows no ethnicity. It knows nothing. I'll tell you that violence against women is as American as apple pie. I know not only as a legislator but from my own personal experience that domestic violence has been a thread throughout my personal life, from being a child who was repeatedly sexually assaulted up to and including being an adult who has been raped. I just don't have enough time to share all of those experiences with you.…”