Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to talk about the rise in hate crimes in the Pacific Northwest and to thank my colleague the Senator from Hawaii for her tremendous leadership in guiding us through this process to get this legislation passed in the U.S. Senate. I want to thank her for her incredible work as a member of the Judiciary Committee and for getting this out and moved to the floor and to thank Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell for both helping us to get to this point today and our colleagues for passing this incredible legislation. But, again, thanks to Senator Hirono for knowing--knowing and understanding and being a great member of the Judiciary Committee-- that we needed to get this legislation done now. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have a long history in our country. And their contributions have been significant, both in cultural vibrancy to our economy and to our way of life. But, unfortunately, that has also been marked by periods in our history of hate and damaging stereotypes and xenophobia, and we saw this again with COVID-19. That is why we needed to act today, to pass hate crimes legislation to protect Asian Americans in the United States of America and to make sure that they have tools to protect them. Our AAPI communities are facing the same challenges we face in the pandemic.…”