Alex Padilla

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon to the U.S. Senate, a place where people are elected by their constituents to come here to be their voice--every one of us, Republicans and Democrats, elected by the people whom we represent to come here and be their voice and to do the job.

What is that job? To make sure that we are being their voice and speaking out for them. And part of that has to be asking questions. Part of that has to be demanding accountability, has to be getting information so we can do the best job possible.

It is unacceptable that a U.S. Senator, in his own home State, elected by millions of people, went to ask a question for his constituents, to get an answer, and was brutally thrown to the ground and handcuffed. That is wrong, and I cannot believe that we don't have Senators on both sides of the aisle calling this out as outrageous.

This is what a democracy is about. It is about us coming to the U.S. Senate, speaking out, asking questions, getting information so we can be their voice.

What happens when that voice is stifled? What happens when that voice is thrown to the floor and handcuffed? Our democracy is lost.

I have been here for more than 32 years. I have come to this floor often to speak out, to be angry, to be a voice for my people. I have never come this close to having tears in my eyes as I speak to both sides of this aisle about this horrendous incident that occurred.

We are a democracy, but we can lose that democracy. It can be gone unless all of us speak out and forcibly reject what happened to a U.S. Senator and to send the message that in this democracy it is just, it is right, it is part of our responsibility to speak up, to ask questions, and to be able to have the knowledge we need to represent the people that we come here for.

We use our voices, we use our votes to be a part of this democracy, not violence. When violence is done by someone representing this administration in a forceful way against a U.S. Senator, how does any one of us go home and tell our constituents that they can be part of a democracy, speak out about what they believe in?

This is so wrong. This is so wrong. I hope others speak up and speak out and, as a voice, we say we want our democracy to succeed. And in order to succeed, we need to be able to use our voices and to use our votes and to ask questions without being forcibly thrown to the ground, without being arrested by speaking up.

I say to the entire country: We have a democracy. We will lose it if we can't use our voices. We will lose this democracy. None of us should be silent. None of us.

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