Political Quotes

“I would like to applaud Hoard's Dairyman for shining a light on an important and sometimes overlooked problem in rural America. The article in their July 2014 issue, ``When Life Turned Ugly,'' written by Andrea Stoltzfus, focused on the unique challenges that rural victims of domestic violence face in overcoming their abusers. They are often geographically isolated and unaware of the resources available to them or they lack the ability to reach a crisis center due to a lack of public transportation. There also may not be a local shelter to help them or they may not have the financial means to set out on their own. These obstacles can make it particularly difficult for women in rural areas, like the dairy farm wives cited in the article, to escape abusive relationships. From my days as a prosecutor in Vermont, I still vividly remember seeing the aftermath of this type of violence firsthand. I will never forget arriving on the scenes of domestic violence crimes. These experiences have spurred me in my roles as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to work to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault. Most recently I was proud to sponsor the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, VAWA, which the President signed into law in March 2013.…”