Political Quotes

“I know the senior Senator from New Hampshire is about to speak regarding the Violence Against Women Act. I would like to take a moment to thank her for all the work she has done in her State and in the Senate to help advance this legislation. Senator Shaheen and I are from rural States. We border each other. The Connecticut River runs down the border between our two States. We have so much in common. We face some of the same difficulties of weather and rural nature, and, of course, in a rural State there is the question of access to transportation. Senator Shaheen was the one who brought up, based on her experience in New Hampshire, that women were having trouble getting to crisis centers and courts. Of course, we have a similar challenge in a rural State such as mine. But Senator Shaheen worked with the Department of Justice to address this problem. As a result, the Office on Violence Against Women is now allowing rural communities to obtain VAWA grant funding for transportation needs. A number of the women who are going to be getting this transportation and desperately need it may not know how that came about, but I wish to congratulate Senator Shaheen on her successful efforts on behalf of not just women in New Hampshire or Vermont but throughout the country-- again, another example of what we are doing with this bill and the necessity to finish this bill. I hope we can finish it today. I thank the Senator for yielding to me.”