Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike of 2012 -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I rise to talk about the importance of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act. As a husband and as a father of three young daughters, this issue is especially personal to me. This piece of legislation provides extremely valuable Federal resources to help victims of domestic and sexual violence rebuild their lives. Whether it comes in the form of an emergency shelter, legal assistance, a crisis hotline or advocacy, this bill provides the assistance that victims need, especially in the most vulnerable time.

Domestic violence, spousal abuse, and sexual assaults represent enormous public policy challenges. Because of the very personal nature of these crimes, it can be extremely difficult for victims to come forward to get the help they need, let alone call out those who have committed these heinous crimes. But since this bill was first enacted, the annual incidence of domestic violence continues to drop. Additionally, domestic violence reporting has dramatically increased and victims are receiving lifesaving assistance to help them move forward with their lives.

In my home State of Colorado, we continue to make great progress reducing the number of domestic and sexual assaults that occur, but we must continue to do more.

In 2010, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control published a report which estimated that 451,000 women in Colorado were victims of rape in their lifetime. It also estimated that 897,000 Colorado women were victims of sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime. That same report said 505,000 men had been victims of sexual violence in their lifetime. These statistics are staggering in my view, and they make the case for why we had to pass this bill and continue to strengthen the programs that provide lifesaving services.

The Violence Against Women Act also includes invaluable programs to coordinate community efforts to respond to incidents of domestic and sexual violence by training police officers, judges, and other members of the criminal justice system. The legal system in our country is already stretched so thin. The resources provided by this bill will help law enforcement and court officials track down and bring to justice those who commit these crimes.

In my opinion, we can't do enough to get these criminals off the streets. For instance, we need to ensure that we support protection and prevention services such as training judges and police officers on how to identify and respond to abusive situations. We can significantly decrease domestic violence fatalities and the number of displaced families if we have better trained officers in our legal system and health and human services arena.

Finally, I wish to thank Chairman Leahy for his tireless efforts to move this critical piece of legislation forward, as well as Senators Murray and Klobuchar for their continued leadership on behalf of women and children all across the Nation. With a big bipartisan vote today in the Senate, we came together to make sure the Violence Against Women Act was passed.

With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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