Russ Feingold: “I rise very briefly to praise and thank the Senator from California for her leadership on this issue. I am very, very…”

“I rise very briefly to praise and thank the Senator from California for her leadership on this issue. I am very, very pleased to be a cosponsor of the resolution and the amendment which is very straightforward. I appreciate the language. It expresses the sense of the Senate that the Attorney General should take strong action to protect reproductive health care clinics. There is really nothing else to be said, other than that the Senate should pass the resolution authored by the Senator from California. This must be done immediately, and if this Federal Government does not express that view, it is a sign of a Government that no longer can really protect the people of this country. I think that this demands swift action in this body. There are many issues that can be disputed; some obviously should be ones we ought to take a lot of time on. I think we have a couple of them right now. The unfunded mandates bill is very complicated; the balanced budget amendment, amending the Constitution. These require the deliberative skills of the U.S. Senate, but this does not. I cannot believe there is any Member of this body on either side of the aisles who believes the Federal Government should do anything but be very aggressive in stopping this violence.”