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Floor Speech

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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I so appreciate the leadership, the heart of Senator Ernst and the ability to work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--Senator Durbin, Senator Feinstein--in this effort towards reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

Thanks to the very open, very inclusive, and, really, a very transparent process that we followed, the bipartisan support that was built with this, we were able to include the VAWA reauthorization in the Omnibus appropriations bill that passed the Senate last week with 68 votes.

That wasn't necessarily the path that we had set on. But we had work to do, again, with extraordinary leadership from Senator Ernst, Senator Durbin, Senator Feinstein, myself, who have been working on this for years, but trying to build that collaborative effort, that negotiated effort that would result in not a partisan bill but a bill that is designed to help those survivors, designed to help the most vulnerable at their time of need.

So there is great thanks that is due this afternoon as we recognize the dedication, the leadership of, again, the cosponsors, the Members that led this, but we all know we are backed by incredible men and women who work very hard to get these initiatives built and across the finish line.

Senator Durbin has named many of the staffs and general counsels, our legislative assistants that made this happen.

I also want to recognize all those who were named, in addition to those who are working on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to help us with that Tribal title. It was a collaborative effort that was really, really tireless.

And I want to acknowledge Senator Ernst particularly. She worked tirelessly over these last 3 years, working to ensure that women and their safety--and, really, all those who are most vulnerable--their safety is put first.

But to Senator Feinstein, Senator Durbin--invaluable partners putting the politics aside, saying: We have to figure out how we are going to make this happen, and they did so.

But we and our staff can't do near the job that needs to be done without the advocacy and, again, this passionate grassroots advocacy that we have all felt.

I want to recognize women like Tami Jerue from the Alaskan Native Women's Resource Center; Michelle Demmert, Brenda Stanfield from the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence. There were so many who urged us along--in fact, so many who have flown 4,000 miles to come from Alaska to be at a ceremony at the White House in recognition of this.

So Senator Ernst has said how personal this issue of domestic violence is, and it is for so many. Half the women--half the women--in the State of Alaska have experienced intimate partner, sexual violence, or both.

The advocates know, I know, we know how imperative it is for Congress to take action to reauthorize and to modernize this almost three- decades-old law.

Again, we don't want to talk about statistics because these are people--these are friends, these are mothers, daughters--but the statistics are just so in your face.

Alaska Native women suffer the highest rate of forcible sexual assault and have reported rates of domestic violence up to 10 times higher than the national average.

In so many of the Native villages in my State in rural Alaska, they have no law enforcement presence; so trying to prevent violence, trying to protect or ensure justice for survivors is hard.

And so I really am very, very thankful for the work that Senator Schatz committed to within the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to put together a strong Tribal title in VAWA that would continue to empower Tribal courts to help combat this major public safety issue affecting Native people and children.

We have got a pretty complex jurisdictional landscape as the result of our Native Claims Settlement Act, and the last time that VAWA was reauthorized in 2013, Alaska was effectively left out. But today, we have an Alaska solution to this jurisdictional maze. We call it the Alaska Public Safety Empowerment pilot project that was included in the Tribal title, and it is the product of years of work with Tribal advocates, with the Department of Justice--some pretty smart lawyers out there--and then good, strong work in the committee.

And what this pilot program will do is supplement the work that the State of Alaska is doing with regard to public safety. It doesn't create Indian Country in the State, it doesn't take away any jurisdiction, but it will empower a limited number of Alaska Tribes to exercise this special criminal jurisdiction over defendants who commit certain crimes that we outline in the law that occur in Native villages in the State.

Tribes selected to participate are going to have to meet specific criteria that are set by the Department of Justice. They will have to include a Tribal justice system that can adequately safeguard the right of all defendants.

So I am optimistic. I believe that our Alaska Tribes are up to this job. They are going to be good partners with the State, and they will make a difference. They will make a difference, and they will provide hope to so many in these communities that have felt without hope.

We are celebrating, again, passage of this law--the reauthorization, the modernization. But for so many who have shown the bravery, the strength, the resilience in the wake of unspeakable trauma--we know that so many, again, of our friends have endured domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking. Many have survived, but so many have not.

These women have endured physical, mental, emotional abuse. The impacts don't necessarily fade away because the calendar moves on; but on their journeys to recovery and healing, many have developed an extraordinary inner strength to stand up and be advocates for themselves and others, and they have spoken about their abuse, they have sought the changes to VAWA to prevent the future tragedies and hold perpetrators accountable, and we have heard them and their pleas to improve access to essential support services, whether healthcare, safe housing for victims--but we have also heard the cries of parents and loved ones who lost those that they love so very much.

I am thinking of Butch and Cindy Moore right now. Butch and Cindy are from Wasilla. They have spent--I swear, they have spent every moment of their lives since they lost their beautiful daughter Bree, 20 years old. They have been advocating for prevention efforts to ensure that no parent experiences the loss of their child to teen dating violence.

Butch and Cindy have said:

As parents who have experienced the devastation of losing our daughter, Bree Moore, to dating violence, we know prevention is the key to keeping future generations safe from interpersonal violence.

I know that Butch and Cindy are looking at this day and feeling that, again, there is some hope. There is some hope.

This is a legislative win, but I think it is also a victory--a victory for women everywhere--and we mark its passage in memory of both those that we have lost and those that have survived.

This is the day where we recognize that this Congress can act in a bipartisan manner to address the crisis of violence in our communities by passing this reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which is now law, now helping to protect women in Alaska and across the country, and we thank all who helped us get here.

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