Political Quotes

“I thank the distinguished Presiding Officer. Amendment No. 13 Madam President, I join Chairwoman Cantwell, the chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and the senior Senator from Alaska, Senator Murkowski, in opposing Senator Coburn's amendment. The amendment will remove essential protections for Native women from the bill. Native women in this country experience domestic abuse at a shockingly high rate. A recent study found that nearly three in five American Indian women have been the victim of a domestic assault. This terrible trend has been perpetuated by a jurisdictional gap that allows many non-Indian perpetrators on tribal lands to go unpunished. This problem is real: nearly half of Indian women are married to non- Indian men, and thousands more are in relationships with non-Indians. Tribal courts have no jurisdiction when these men commit domestic violence offenses, and federal and state officials are not in a position to prosecute in most cases. They are often hours away and lack the resources and local contacts to be able to effectively respond. These non-Indian men can essentially abuse Indian women with immunity from any consequences. That has to end. The Leahy-Crapo bill addresses this glaring need by allowing tribes that can provide key rights to defendants to prosecute non-Indians for domestic violence offenses under limited circumstances.…”