Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California for very clearly outlining, for all of us to hear, why this was not a search for truth on an issue that affects so many people in this country, the victims of sexual assault who often, as she just described, do not talk about it, do not speak about it, do not ever tell anyone until there is a reason to, which is what Dr. Ford did.

While the Senator from California is here, you said this was not a search for truth. When it comes to victims of sexual assault--and you have dealt with them time and again as a district attorney and attorney general in the State of California--what message does this send when they see the U.S. Senate?

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Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator from California, and I so agree. This is one of my biggest fears about this moment. Let me talk about why that is true. I was a mom at home in 1991. I was a State senator but not interested in what was happening here at all. My interest came because I watched the Clarence Thomas-Hill hearings, and I watched how a woman shared a very difficult story with an all-male panel of the Judiciary Committee at the time. She was disbelieved. She was swept aside. She was treated as if her voice wasn't important, and she was not believed.

I was so angry as a woman because like so many women in this country, I knew of so many people with experiences much like hers who, too, at work at that time had been dismissed, not believed, and were afraid to speak up. I was angry, and I went to a gathering that night and told some of my friends in 1991, the night of the hearing, I am going to have to run for the U.S. Senate because I need to be inside that to speak up for these women.

That is what motivated me to run. I was not given one chance of winning that Senate race. Here I am today, 27 years later. Why? Because so many women and men who understood shared that experience and knew that voice needed to be here. That is what brought me to the U.S. Senate.

Let me talk about Dr. Ford because I listened to her, like everyone else did, and I heard her voice and it rang so true to me. I watched her with tears in my eyes because she was honest, she was sincere, she was persuasive, she was credible. She had no reason to lie--none. In fact, I think we should remember, she did not want to come forward initially. She was worried about the attacks that would come. She knew the history, as every one of us do, what happens to those courageous voices when they speak up, the invasion of privacy they have. She knew what it would mean for her family.

She only came forward when Judge Kavanaugh was on the very short list for the Supreme Court, before he was ever sent to us. She came forward and spoke out, but no one called her. She didn't want to do it publicly. She didn't want to have this become what she was known for in her life, but she did. If it weren't for her, we would not be at this point.

Judge Kavanaugh was selected, and only then was Dr. Ford able to get her information to the people who would pay attention. She insisted it be kept confidential, to none of our surprise. She didn't want a spectacle. She didn't want a show. Why did she do that? She felt it was her civic duty that we as U.S. Senators--who were giving, essentially, a job interview to a man who wanted a position on the highest Court of the land and would be judging people in front of him--should know what his character was.

Her story was compelling. She took a polygraph test. She did everything right. She had told people before. She presented her case credibly. It is extremely disconcerting to me, as someone who watched the Clarence Thomas-Hill hearings and is sitting here, that I have heard people dismiss her, put her down, all the way up to the President of the United States. What message does that send across the country today and to other women who are so bravely now telling their stories so it will not happen to anyone else? What does this say to them? What does it say to young girls in high school and college today? They are going to get away with it, so be quiet because it will only ruin your life, not theirs.

I have heard my colleagues say: Well, it was high school, it was college.

Really? Is that what we want young boys in high school today to think; that it is OK, don't worry, whatever you do in high school does not count--whatever you do in college doesn't count?

I do not want my grandson to hear that message. I do not want my granddaughters to hear that message. I want my country to be better than that. Dr. Ford is a real person. She is not alone.

If any Senator in the U.S. Senate is listening, they will hear voices in their own States, from places they know, from their own relatives, from friends they have not ever known about, bravely come forward because Dr. Ford did. This Senate, with the action we are pursuing, could crush those voices forever.

To my friends out there and to everyone who has a story, do not be silent. That is not how we win this for the future, but know we do believe you. The Senate has changed since then. I was proud of the Judiciary Committee members on our side, because unlike when I watched the Senate in 1991, there were women and men there who were listening, and they are today.

We have to, in this Senate, think about the consequence of this vote to so many people who are listening today and asking: Do I say anything or do I let it happen?

I urge my colleagues to remember the lesson of 1991, where too many people felt ``I can't speak out.'' We are changing. We are growing. We are speaking out. It is so imperative this Senate stand behind those women. We hear you. We believe you. We know that happened to you. You need to tell your story. You need to have the courage, and we will be behind you.

I say to the Senators who are joining me today, both who have been involved in these cases, I am concerned this message could be the wrong one for young men and women who are coming behind us. We have to stand up for them.

I yield to the Senator from Connecticut.

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Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator from Connecticut. No, I am not a lawyer. I was a preschool teacher, and one of the things I do know is that I wanted my students to know it is not OK to bully. You have to take a pause and do what is right.

But let me tell you, what I would want for every one of the kids I have ever taught in preschool is to know that if anything they deeply care about--an issue or they themselves--ever appears in a court, then they should feel, in the United States of America, that they would be given a fair shot, and win or lose, the judge presiding over them would leave them with that feeling at the end of the day. That, to me, is why temperament is so important.

If Americans lose the sense that no matter who they are or what their issue is or where they come from or how much money they make in our court of law, they stand a chance to be heard, even if they lose or if they win--that is why temperament is so important to me as a nonlawyer and someone who cares deeply about this country.

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