Gabby Petito and Femicide

Floor Speech

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Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, the tragic story of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose body was recently found at the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, has captured the attention of our Nation. It is an awful story that is still playing out. We pray for her parents and her loved ones, and we hope that they soon will receive justice.

As we watch the story unfold, we empathize with her family and her friends, and we mourn with them, and we think about how this horrible crime hurts all of them, their neighbors, our fellow citizens, the result of such a brutal murder. We think of our daughters and think of the daughters of others, all of our Nation's daughters. And all of this reminds some of us of another terrible tragedy in America, and it is this: Native and indigenous women in America are murdered and sexually assaulted at rates as high as 10 times the national average. Think about that. Horrendous.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that murder is the third leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women. However, this issue rarely, if ever, receives much coverage or awareness. But awareness often results in additional resources--something that has unfortunately been lacking in our criminal justice system on this issue, the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.

According to the FBI's National Crime Information Center, there are roughly 1,500 unsolved cases of missing and murdered indigenous women in America--1,500. Alaska has about 300 of these unsolved cases. Experts think there are many more such cases that don't make it into the Federal database.

There has been some progress. Under the previous administration, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, Tara Sweeney, who did such a great job, began an initiative throughout the Federal Government called Operation Lady Justice, the whole point of which was to bring light to this horrible issue of missing and murdered indigenous women, to bring justice and hope and closure to their families. Operation Lady Justice, the task force, has opened up numerous offices across America, including one in Alaska. Last year, we in a bipartisan way here in the Senate passed Savanna's Act and the Not Invisible Act to address the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked indigenous women in our country. Progress is being made, but we need to continue to keep this issue front and center.

As we pray for the family of Gabby Petito, we also offer our thoughts and prayers to the families of these missing and murdered indigenous Americans and commit to continue to focus on all of these issues to make our country a better place.

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