Political Quotes

“Thank you. You've been a leader on this; but the challenge that we face in Congress is whether we're going to take seriously the epidemic of violence that's inflicted on women throughout this country. This legislation has to address what is a very serious problem in this country, which is that women are being subjected to violent attacks and that do we have it in our heart--do we have it in our will?--to provide legal protections to women who are the victims of assaultive and violent conduct in this country? It's really that simple. That should apply to all women. Any person who is attacked on the basis of gender should be protected. What their views are about anything--what their views are on politics, what their views are on sexual orientation--are really irrelevant to the basic, independent, individual right that all of us have--men and women, incidentally-- which is to live our lives in peace and with protection and with the confidence that our physical integrity will not be violated. It's really as simple as that. So this is a question of whether this country has it in its heart to understand that there is violence out there that is affecting half of our population. Do we as a society have the desire and have the will to provide legal protection to people who are on the receiving end of violent conduct? In my view, we have that in our heart, we have it in our soul, we have it in our will, and we can do it.”