Senate (Legislative Day of Monday, February 6, 2017)
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 163 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2017 No. 20—Part II Senate (Legislative day of Monday, February 6, 2017) EXECUTIVE CALENDAR—Continued cation and what that would mean for young women and their families all the country. across the country. We passed legisla- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. LEE). The Senator from Pennsylvania. I have heard from people across my tion that I will talk about in a mo- State—urban and rural, suburban, ment, but this is a matter, I believe, of Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise this Democrats, Republicans, all kinds of basic justice. now-early morning, on a new day, to people—who have spoken with one Hundreds of years ago, St. Augustine talk about this nomination, which has voice against this nomination. That is said: ‘‘Without justice, what are king- been the subject of so much debate, so one of the factors that I have to con- doms but great bands of robbers?’’ If we much contention and, I believe, so sider when making a decision, but even don’t get serious about this problem— much concern across the country and I could not have imagined the scope of the problem of sexual assault and what in my home State of Pennsylvania. that response from people across Penn- happens to young women on our col- I spoke earlier today of some of the sylvania. lege campuses—we are robbing them of basic history of my State that prin- I know we still have a number of basic justice. We are robbing them of cipally involves public education. In hours left before the vote, but, to date, an opportunity to get a higher edu- the 1830s—the early 1830s, to be exact— if you count all of the contacts that cation. a debate started in Pennsylvania about have been made with my office—or I In many instances, because of that public education, the culmination of should say offices in Pennsylvania and assault, that young woman’s life is de- which led to the enactment under here in Washington—it is over 100,000 stroyed or largely compromised or State law of the Free School Act in contacts, whether made by telephone harmed in some fashion. Sometimes 1834 in Pennsylvania. We have had a or email or by letter or otherwise. she cannot finish her higher education, bedrock foundation of free public edu- I have been in the U.S. Senate for so she is robbed of that opportunity be- cation all these generations. It is part more than 10 years now. This is my cause the rest of us didn’t do enough to prevent that assault. of who we are as a State. 11th year. No nomination has even ap- In our Commonwealth, even today When we remember those words of proached that number of contacts from Augustine about a basic definition of with all of the changes in education individuals who felt that they had to and all of the change in policy over justice, we should remember and decide speak up and speak out, literally, in whether we are doing enough to pre- time, we are still a State where 92 per- the context of a nomination. cent of our schoolchildren are educated vent her from being robbed of her dig- I wanted to start with one particular nity, robbed of her safety, robbed of the in public schools. That is the State we issue and develop it rather fully; that are. We don’t have any for-profit char- ability to move forward with public is, the issue of sexual assault on our education, and, of course, robbed from ter schools, and that has been the sub- campuses. This is the line of ques- ject of debate in this nomination. her basic pursuit of happiness as a tioning that I pursued with Mrs. DeVos young person on a college campus who We have, by law, public nonprofit en- when she came before the HELP Com- should have a reasonable expectation tities as charter schools. It is a signifi- mittee—the Health, Education, Labor, of safety and security. cant point of difference between what and Pensions Committee—just a couple Too often, the college or the univer- is law in Pennsylvania and what is part of days ago. sity has failed her. Often—too often, I of our education traditions and what I want to start with the stark reality should say—our society has failed her. the nominee has stood for in her time of sexual assault on college and univer- This is a serious issue. As I said, some as a private citizen. We will get to that sity campuses across the country. Here young women never recover, and others a little bit later. is what the Centers for Disease Control struggle for the rest of their lives. I wanted to start tonight with a basic and Prevention tell us: One in five Let me say this about the young men assessment, and then I will go through women on college campuses experience who engage in this kind of conduct: a series of issues. The basic assessment attempted or completed sexual as- Any young man who engages in this and determination that I have made is sault—one in five. That is an abomina- kind of conduct on a college campus is that I should vote against the nomina- tion. That is a stain on our country. a coward, and we should call them on tion of Betsy DeVos to be the next U.S. That is something we should not allow it. They are cowards. They should be Secretary of Education. The principle to continue. brought to justice—swift and certain reason for that is her views on public In the last couple of years, we have justice—when they engage in this kind education—what I believe to be a lack just begun to tackle that horrific prob- of a crime. It is happening too often on of total commitment to public edu- lem, that insult, that outrage for our college campuses. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S763 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:36 Feb 08, 2017 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G06FE6.097 S06FEPT2 rfrederick on DSK30MX082PROD with SENATE S764 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 7, 2017 As we seek to hold these young men must the college tell her about that One survivor, Jess Davidson, wrote fully accountable for sexual assault on right, but the college or university has an open letter to Mrs. DeVos as part of college campuses, we better have a to help her do it. Also, of course, there a ‘‘Dear Betsy’’ campaign. She said: Secretary of Education who is fully are the procedures for conducting hear- I haven’t always felt that I had the space committed—fully committed—to mak- ings in a fair and appropriate manner. or safety to tell my story and stand up for ing sure that we are holding these stu- We have a long way to go to hold per- survivors. However, I was lucky enough to dents accountable. That is the least we petrators accountable. There is still attend college under a government adminis- can expect from a Secretary of Edu- more work to do on that. Too many tration that fought for survivors of sexual cation and from a President and an ex- assault. young men over many generations It was only because committed govern- ecutive branch and a Congress of both have been protected in one way or an- ment leaders believed that it was important parties and both Houses that are com- other. Some institution, some indi- to uphold Title IX and address campus sex- mitted to protecting young women on vidual on the campus or off the campus ual violence that I was able to overcome our campuses. has protected them and swept these what happened to me. What have we done about it? First of issues and these crimes under the rug. Later in her letter, Jess Davidson all, we haven’t done enough. That is We are going to continue to work on said: the basic foundation of what I will say, this issue, but that leads me to the Ms. DeVos, certainly my education, if not but we have made some progress the nominee for Secretary of Education. I my life, was saved by committed leaders last couple of years. I introduced legis- asked Betsy DeVos in the hearing if standing up and fighting for the rights of lation a couple of years ago, the Cam- she would commit to upholding title survivors of sexual assault. So today I am pus SaVE Act, known more fully as the IX, which is a nondiscrimination stat- writing you to ask, that if confirmed, you do Campus Sexual Violence Elimination ute that includes important protec- the same. Act. That became law in 2013 as part of tions against sexual assault. Specifi- Jess goes on from there. She says: the reauthorization of the Violence cally, I asked her to uphold the guid- Because if survivors do not feel their gov- Against Women Act. ance from 2011 of the Department of ernment is fighting for them, they won’t As the process works around here, Education’s Office for Civil Rights, speak up. I almost didn’t.