Mark Pocan: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Earlier this week, a Member of this body attacked another Member over their…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Earlier this week, a Member of this body attacked another Member over their viewpoint, but it wasn't the ordinary debate over ideology. It turned personal and misogynistic all too quickly. What was the egregious offense? She said what we all know to be true: that poverty is a leading path to crime; that if you can't pay your rent or feed your family, you will do whatever you have to do to survive, and you could turn to crime so you aren't homeless or so your family doesn't starve. That is called survival. Thanks to our Nation's disastrous response to COVID-19, more people aren't working, and that will cause poverty--pretty simple, honest logic. Well, one Member not only took offense to that truism, but they also took offense to the person who said it, in the most frightening manner. They started to attack a person not just for their values, but for who they are, with the most antiquated view and response I have seen in this body. By swearing at someone and calling them an f-ing b, you don't denigrate the person you are attacking as much as you denigrate yourself and, honestly, this institution. By not properly apologizing for that incident, you further dig yourself into a dinosaur-sized misogynistic hole. For the Republican Party to not deal with that Member swiftly and strongly, they show a greater problem with their party.…”