S. 2330

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Madam President, today in the Commerce Committee, following an in-depth 18-month investigation to examine cultural and systemic issues regarding abuse in the Olympic movement, Senator Blumenthal and I introduced bipartisan legislation, the Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2019. It was accompanied by an investigative report, findings, and, recommendations. I am pleased that the Commerce Committee approved that legislation today. This marks a significant step forward to improving the protections and representations provided to our amateur athletes.

The subcommittee that I chair exercises jurisdiction over the U.S. Olympic Committee and amateur sports at large, and I remain fully committed to ensuring the health and safety of all American athletes. Our Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act would enact reforms to the U.S. Olympic system by strengthening legal liability and accountability mechanisms, restoring a culture of putting athletes first, and fortifying the independence and capacity of the U.S. Center for Safe Sports.

Our investigation, which led to the foundation of the provisions in this bill, included four subcommittee hearings, interviews with Olympic athletes and survivors, and the retrieval of 70,000 pages of documents. This was also made possible by the supportive leadership of the committee--the chairman and ranking member, Senator Wicker and Senator Cantwell--and the contributions of the committee staff, including the contributions of my staff and those of former Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson.

Also, I want to take this moment to thank Mr. Grassley, the Senator from Iowa and the chairman now of the Finance Committee. For a portion of the time we were dealing with this issue, he was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He, too, made contributions to our legislation, and his continued leadership on this issue in general has helped to move this bill forward and out of the committee today.

During our investigation, Senator Grassley indicated an interest in working together to protect amateur athletes. After we introduced the legislation, I am pleased we were able to include provisions from his legislation that was just introduced yesterday here in the Senate. Specifically, the substitute amendment included funding accountability language for safe sports, clarification on mandatory reporting parties related to child abuse, and new reporting requirements to improve transparency. Senator Grassley was also successful in working with Senator Peters to include whistleblower protection language in the bill during today's markup.

Again, I thank Senator Grassley for his leadership and commitment to the health and safety of our amateur athletes.

Additionally, there were thoughtful contributions to our legislation--most recently, in the form of our substitute amendment-- from other members of the Commerce Committee, including Senator Gardner of Colorado.

I also thank my colleague Senator Blumenthal, the ranking member of the subcommittee, for his steadfast and ongoing support and leadership that he has shown throughout this long process.

This investigation and legislative process started out as a bipartisan effort to provide substantive policy protections to amateur athletes and has remained as such. That bipartisanship has continued and will continue to be prioritized as we push for timely consideration of this legislation on the Senate floor.

Finally, I would be remiss not to express my sincere and humble thanks to the survivors for their bravery in guiding our policymaking with their testimonies and ongoing input throughout the process. Their willingness to recount and relive their traumatic experiences played a vital role in informing Congress as it seeks to address key reporting, governance, and resource issues within the Olympic system. This critical legislation would not have happened without their active involvement.

I will never forget the question that was asked of me by one of the survivors as we were gathered together in the Russell Senate Office Building. The question was this: Why was there more than one? It is a question we would always hope to answer. There should never be a victim or survivor of sexual abuse. And if there is one, there should never be a second.

The sad thing about this circumstance in which we found ourselves and in which the athletes found themselves was that not only was there one, but there were many more. We should be able to take that call--why was there ever more than one?--and make certain that we do everything to keep it from ever happening again.

I thank my colleagues in the Commerce Committee for their support on this critical legislation. I look forward to working with the leader and my Senate colleagues as we push to enact these necessary reforms.

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Mr. MORAN. I thank the Senator. Agent Orange

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