Senate Proceeding on Jul 15th, 2009 :: 4:37:55 to 4:47:35
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4:37:53 to 4:38:14( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: known for. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, first i wanted to commend my colleague from arizona, senator mccain, for his great leadership and words about burma. no one would senator mccain would about the human rights violations, of

4:37:55 to 4:47:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

4:38:15 to 4:38:36( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: someone held in a prison like that. as he's aware on a bipartisan basis the woman senators have come together to support aung burma. i recently met with the burmese community in my state, and they're concerned about their relatives there and everything country. we have someone in our office

4:38:37 to 4:38:59( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: whose relates are in burma. and so i thank you for your words and also, senator mccain, for your leadership on the amendment, the levin-mccain amendment to strike the $1.75 billion added to the bill that's on the floor to purchase additional f-22 aircraft that have not been requested by the pentagon. this is a

4:39:00 to 4:39:20( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: for many people in this chamber, including the senator from arizona. but we all know in the end what counts here is to do the thing for our nation security. and this amendment truly gives us an important choice where we continue to pour billions into unproven weapons systems despite

4:39:21 to 4:39:41( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: repeated cost overrun and program delays. are we going to make the hard choices necessary to ensure that our troops in the field have what they need to fight present and f not one o these f22's, as they do, we know possess but not one has ever flown over

4:39:42 to 4:40:02( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: iraq or afghanistan fplt we have much more pressing needs, both the past current president support this amendment, and i hope that my colleagues will support it as well. today, mr. president, i'm actually here to speak in support of the hate crimes prevention act. i'm a cosponsor of this legislation which will fight hate crimes and make our

4:40:03 to 4:40:23( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: communities safer. among other things the bill would impose criminal penalties for targeting a victim on the basis of race, sexual orientation or disability. i want to thank senator leahy for his work on course stphorb kennedy for his work and leadership on the issues over the year. i have been involved with this

4:40:24 to 4:40:45( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: piece of legislation for many years. you go way back to 2000 when i was the county prosecutor for minnesota's largest county. i was called to washington for the first time to take part in a ceremo introduced. i remember this moment well, mr. president, because there i was with the president at that time, president clinton, and

4:40:46 to 4:41:06( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: attorney general reno, and we were ready to walk in to, for the ceremony to introduce the hate crimes bill. and i was standing outside and the mility band struck up "hail to the chief" because the president was entering the room. and i started to walk, and all of a sudden i felt this big hand on my said i know you're going to do

4:41:07 to 4:41:28( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: great out there, but when they play that song, i usually go first. it's something i'll never forget. here i am now, mr. president, nine years later with this same bill. are working very hard to get this bill passed, and i'm hoping that we will be able to do that. what i rember most about that day back in 2000, however, was

4:41:29 to 4:41:51( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the meeting i investigators in the matthew shepard case. they were two burley cops from wyoming, and they talked about the fact that until they had investigated that horrible crime, they hadn't considered what the victim -- matthew shepard's -- life was like about that. when they got to know the family in the case, when they got to

4:41:52 to 4:42:14( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: know the mom and they got to know the people surrounding matthew shepard, their own lives changed forever. i hope by passing this bill we can prevent other matthew shepards from being targeted. attorney general holder appeared before the senate judiciary committee to talk about his support for this bill and gave somber statistics.

4:42:15 to 4:42:35( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: he 77,000 hate crime eus dents reported to the f.b.i. from 1998 to 2007, or nearly one hate crime every hour, every day for the past decade. in my state of were 157 reported offenses in 2007. but when i think about this

4:42:36 to 4:42:56( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: issue, it's not just about the statistics. it's about the victims of these crimes. when we had -- when i was prosecutor, we had a number of cases that were clearly motivated by hate, and that was one of the reasons actually that i was chosen to go out to washington. and part

4:42:57 to 4:43:17( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: well with the federal prosecutors on some of the cases. we had a case of a 14-year-old african-american boy minding his own business, and a guy who did have some mental health issues told his friends, "i'm going to go out" and he used a different word, "and shoot a black kid on martin luther king day, and he did and almost killed this 14-year-old boy.

4:43:18 to 4:43:38( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: he survived and we prosecuted the case. i think about a young hispanic man. he was working in a factory and his boss got mad at his because he didn't speak english and he was speaking spanish in world. his boss took a two-by-four and hit him over the head resulting

4:43:39 to 4:43:59( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: in brain damage. i think of a case with the hindu temple that was severely vandalized by young kids. i think about the case of a korean church that had all kinds of hateful graffiti, some of these cases were major attempted murder cases, some were simply graffiti cases. but to the people in that

4:44:00 to 4:44:21( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: church, to the people in that temple it mea something more. that's why i was glad, at least in a few of these cases, we were able to use our state hate crimes legislation. those are cases were minnesota, a place where you think you'd she these kinds of cases, but we did. this bill in front of us, the matthew shepard hate crimes bill

4:44:22 to 4:44:42( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: will strengthen the ability of state and local governments to investigate and prosecute hate crimes. it increases the number of personl at the treasury department and 2k e79 justice working -- and the department of justice working on hate crimes. and it authorizes the attorney general to provide resources and support to state, local, and

4:44:43 to 4:45:03( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: tribal law enforcement officials for hate crime investigations and prosecutions. in addition, this authorizes the federal government to step in when need and prosecute hate crimes when needed. after the justice department prosecution is whileost of these cases will continue to be handled by state

4:45:04 to 4:45:25( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: and local jurisdiction, theill provides a federal back stop for state and local law enforcement to deal with hate crimes that otherwise might not be effectively investigated and prosecuted for or when states request assistance. it's a backdrop. you think of how many other areas of law we have the backdrops. in the gun area, as you know,

4:45:26 to 4:45:46( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the presiding officer is aware from his work in the state new mexico, that sometimes you jun crime area is a -- gun crime area is a perfect state laws sometimes apply, sometimes the fed handle the case. the same with drug crimes. it helps to have the federal

4:45:47 to 4:46:07( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: backdrop for the investigative power, sentencing power, and for many other things. this bill will not role of the local law enforcement, but supplement. it this legislation has the support of numerous law enforcement organizations including the international association of chiefs of police, the major city chiefs and the national district attorney's

4:46:08 to 4:46:28( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: association. for years we've recognized the need for this you just think about 2000 when i was standing there outside the east room with president clinton when it was first introduced. for years we've known that we needed this legislation. year after year the forces of

4:46:29 to 4:46:50( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: reaction have stalled and blocked and tried to do everything they can to make it go away. robert kennedy broke the news to a crowd in indianapolis that martin luther king, jr. had just been assassinated. during his speech kennedy called on the crowd and country to make an effort to understand and to comprehend and to replace that

4:46:51 to 4:47:11( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: violence, that stain of bloodshed with an effort to understand with compassion an love. -- and love. we should answer his call today. i look forward to the day, and i hope it will be very soon, when the hate crimes prevention act becomes law. it is long overdue. i urge my colleagues to support it. thank you very much, mr. president, and i yield t

4:47:12 to 4:47:17( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: floor.