▶ 0:20:07Chair Grassley: Before senator durbin and I give our opening statements, I'm going to call on senator white house.
▶ 0:20:16Sen. Whitehouse: Thanks very much, Mr. chairman. I won't take long. But I do love being on this committee. And I fear that what I'm seeing is kind a slow mo self-destruction of the committee in various respects. Like that?
▶ 0:20:47Sen. Whitehouse: The slow-mo self-destruction of the committee began, I would say, with the destruction of our circuit court blue slips. I know that created an immediate political advantage for the republican side in order to be able to -- shove circuit court nominees into democrat seats.
▶ 0:21:11Sen. Whitehouse: But then the winds changed, and the next thing you know, republicans are looking around for a blue slip and finding that, oh, no, we killed it. The net result, as the politics balance out, is that we transferred our power on this committee, individual senators' power on this committee, to the executive branch. And we've never gotten it back. We just gave it away.
▶ 0:21:43Sen. Whitehouse: We're having a retrace of that right now with respect to united states attorneys. This department of justice has figured out a device for circumventing this committee entirely. It's not a question of us not having a blue slip. They have figured out a way to put U.S. attorneys in place without the individual's name ever coming before this committee.
▶ 0:22:14Sen. Whitehouse: The trick is you appoint somebody in interim, and then when the time gets ready to run out, you can the first assistant, and you put your interim into the first assistant position, and then you designate that individual as something called a special attorney, and that's it.
▶ 0:22:37Sen. Whitehouse: According to the department of justice, that individual now has all the powers of the united states attorney, and this committee has never even had a role in looking at that. Now, if you all are happy with that, if you want to have the new rule for U.S. attorneys be that you get to put them in without even touching base with this committee, without even having a conversation with the senator from the home state, if that's what you want this to be, keep it up.
▶ 0:23:08Sen. Whitehouse: But when the time comes, when the winds shift and suddenly it's your U.S. attorneys who are being selected by an administration without even consultation with you, without any committee process or review whatsoever, then don't come complaining to me.
▶ 0:23:33Sen. Whitehouse: It was not met with much sympathy by me when I had to hear complaints about the circuit court blue slip disappearing when your side had killed the circuit court blue slip. If you kill judiciary committee process for U.S. attorneys, please don't think that that's just a one-way ticket.
▶ 0:24:02Sen. Whitehouse: We will permanently disable this committee's ability to have a say in U.S. attorneys if we don't do something about what this department of justice is doing right now. And the last self-destruction that I see taking place in this committee is that we don't require witnesses to answer questions.
▶ 0:24:27Sen. Whitehouse: Instead, we allow them to assert privileges that are preposterous. And we just let it pass. Well, it's fine when you have the gavel and it's a witness you want to be allowed to duck questions and assert fake privileges. But that wind shifts too.
▶ 0:24:50Sen. Whitehouse: And the time will come when you will want your questions answered and you will want to have the chair direct the witness to answer the question, unless there's a real privilege. As chairman grassley has said repeatedly, executive privilege is limited. It's limited to conversations directly with and around the president.
▶ 0:25:18Sen. Whitehouse: It must be actually asserted by the president. And even then, if there's a good enough reason to overcome the privilege, it can be overcome. Instead, we allow witnesses just to say, oh, executive privilege. With none of those conditions having been met, and now they don't have to answer questions.
▶ 0:25:43Sen. Whitehouse: Worse, executive privilege has been expanded to include foia exemptions and limitations on intraparty discovery in a lawsuit. And now those things are grafted into executive privilege. And again, as chairman grassley has noted, those aren't privileges that limit congress' constitutional oversight power.
▶ 0:26:13Sen. Whitehouse: They may limit what one litigant can get from another. They may limit what an individual with a foia request can get under the foia statute. But this is the united states congress. This is the senate judiciary committee. And if we're going to allow witnesses to make up fake privilege and then act as if that's ok, again, look out for when that turns.
▶ 0:26:41Sen. Whitehouse: And we just saw this the other day with a truly preposterous assertion of privilege by a lawyer on his way to disbarment, just to add a little bit of extra flavor to it. But I would like to see this committee strong. I know a strong committee is sometimes awkward politically. But when we give up the circuit court blue slip, if we continue to give up any role in U.S.
▶ 0:27:09Sen. Whitehouse: Attorney nominations, and if we let witnesses come in and just make up privileges and not have to answer questions, that is slo-mo self-destruction of this committee, and we all pay a price. So thank you for letting me say that, Mr. chairman. As I've mentioned on a number of these issues, you've actually been quite strong, and I look forward to working with you to re-establish the pro peg actives of united states senators on this committee. Mr. chairman?
▶ 0:27:40Chair Grassley: We're going to give our opening statements first. Yeah. Before I give my opening statement, I just say today is an example, and I'm not going to try to refute anything that senator whitehouse said, but I do want to give some examples of this blue slip process. Today we're voting on a U.S.
▶ 0:28:05Chair Grassley: Attorney from hawaii who has blue slips returned from democrat senators. We've also moved to others recently from pennsylvania, michigan, minnesota, where democrats have returned their blue slips for U.S. attorneys.
▶ 0:28:25Chair Grassley: And I think the way this really works in the states where it has worked is that the senators have encouraged cooperation with the white house and been in communication with the white house. We're going to continue the blue slip process that we've had under the four years that we've had chaired by the present ranking member.
▶ 0:28:50Chair Grassley: I'd also like to give just a little bit of memory for everybody that this whole process on getting things done in a more efficient way, particularly when it comes to the number of people that it takes to move a nomination in the senate from 60 down to 50, senator reed started that back
▶ 0:29:22Chair Grassley: In 2013, and he then basically ran democratic committees at that particular point. Now today's agenda, sheria clarke, district of south carolina, kathleen lane, district montana, evan rikhye, district virginia islands, kara westercamp for the court of international trade.
▶ 0:29:52Chair Grassley: We'll also vote on kenneth sorensen to serve as U.S. attorney for the district of hawaii and jonathan teehee to serve as U.S. marshal of the eastern district of oklahoma. After that, we have three bills, the federal carjacking enforcement act, the guard act, and the trey's act. The other bills and the remaining nominations will be held over for future consideration.
▶ 0:30:19Chair Grassley: Before we turn to the votes, I'd like to say a few words about the american bar association, or the aba, particularly how this interacts with one of the nominees on the agenda. In recent decades, the aba inserted itself into divisive political topics. Since the 1960's, the aba has taken positions hostile towards the second amendment.
▶ 0:30:46Chair Grassley: It has also passed a pro-abortion resolution, which forced thousands of its members to leave the organization in protest, and it issues rules recommending sanctions for attorneys who publicly state that there are only two genders.
▶ 0:31:04Chair Grassley: As one former white house counsel stated, the aba "takes public positions on divisive political legal and social issues that come before the courts." and it damaged the aba's act in rating judicial nominees.
▶ 0:31:32Chair Grassley: Its evaluation process lacks transparency, and historically a poor aba rating has reflected a bias against conservatism. In fact, the aba gave at least a minority, not qualified rating to many great conservative judges, including frank easterbrook, william pryor, and many others.
▶ 0:32:00Chair Grassley: Meanwhile, the aba has heralded liberal judicial nominees, one nominee could only list six cases that she had litigated in her career. At her hearings, she couldn't remember what article two or five of the constitution were. So how did the aba assess her nomination?
▶ 0:32:30Chair Grassley: She got a qualified nomination, or qualified assessment. Let me say that again. The aba rated as qualified a biden nominee who lacked basic knowledge about the same constitution that she swore an oath to uphold. To the aba, it's long appeared that political affiliation is more important than legal competence.
▶ 0:32:58Chair Grassley: So it's no surprise that aba has related Ms. lane, who works for the r.n.c., managing a docket of more than 100 cases, as not qualified. However, like other judges who received poor aba ratings, Ms. lane is a great nominee. She spent years working with the montana solicitor general. She litigated dozens of appeals, including briefs before the supreme court.
▶ 0:33:28Chair Grassley: And she uniquely is qualified to serve in montana because of her experience in rural cases involving land use, grazing rights, and coal mining leases. Once confirmed, I hope Ms. lane wears her aba rating as a badge of honor, based on the history of stellar judges who have received poor aba ratings, she's likely to become one of the nation's finest jurists.
▶ 0:33:57Chair Grassley: On our legislative agenda today, we're considering three bills. First we'll hear from senator blackburn's bipartisan federal carjacking enforcement act. This important bill will give federal prosecutors the tools that they need to bring these violent offenders to justice. Then we'll consider two bipartisan bills that are civil bills, the guard act and the trey's law.
▶ 0:34:27Chair Grassley: These bills advance the important issues of child safety. These measures, if enacted, would protect kids from being harmed or exploited. Finally, I'd like to take a minute to recognize some of the families who are here today with us. Their children were victims of harmful manipulation by character a.I.
▶ 0:34:52Chair Grassley: One of these chatbots, please know your families are in our prayers. I look forward to these bills being discussed and voted today. Senator durbin?
▶ 0:35:10Sen. Durbin: Thanks, Mr. chairman. This is the committee's first business meeting since president trump fired attorney general bondi. In short, she did more damage to the justice department's reputation than any attorney general in history.
▶ 0:35:25Sen. Durbin: In just over a year, bondi transformed the department from the world's preeminent law enforcement agency into a weaponized political battleground, providing a shield to protect the president and his cronies and a sword to attack his enemies. But this was ultimately her undoing. She failed to successfully prosecute the president's enemies, and there are many. Not for lack of effort.
▶ 0:35:53Sen. Durbin: The courts and grand juries blocked her baseless prosecutions. Now Ms. bondi has been replaced by the president's former personal criminal defense lawyer, who in his first days as acting attorney general, is doing everything in his power to placate his former client.
▶ 0:36:11Sen. Durbin: Earlier this month, the justice department moved to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of members of the proud boys and oath keepers for their key role in leading the january 6 insurrection. The president has a determined strategy to wipe off the face of the earth all evidence of what happened in this complex on january 6. It won't work.
▶ 0:36:37Sen. Durbin: Those violent extremists helped organize the violent assault on law enforcement in the capitol building in an attempt to forcibly block the constitutional transfer of presidential power. We have witnesses come before this committee who can't answer, won't answer the question of who won the 2020 presidential election. They also gloss over january 6 as not worthy of comment. It was a moment I'll never forget as a person who served in the senate and house.
▶ 0:37:06Sen. Durbin: This capitol building represents more than just a building. It is a symbol of our democracy. It was physically, violently attacked, and the men and women who risked their lives, and some gave their lives in defense of this capitol, deserve better than what we've seen from this administration. To add insult to injury, last week the justice department indicted the southern poverty law center.
▶ 0:37:29Sen. Durbin: This civil rights organization has worked tirelessly to expose violent extremists like the proud boys and the oath keepers, the same people todd blanche wants to give a clean slate. The justice department is trying to turn back the clock to the infamous days of j. He had war hoover, targeting -- edgar hoover, targeting civil lights leaders by martin luther king.
▶ 0:37:53Sen. Durbin: They brought this indictment for one reason, the southern poverty law center is held accountable, maga extremists were allies of this white house. Just yesterday, the department of justice brought its second baseless indictment against former f.b.I. Director james comey. Now, I'm not a personal fan of Mr.
▶ 0:38:11Sen. Durbin: Comey for a variety of reasons, but I will tell you, this prosecution personally ordered by the president who despises comey for overseeing the investigation of russia's interference in 2016 election, this indictment is laughable. I'm confident todd blanche's vindictive efforts will ultimately fail again. Just like pam bondi's baseless prosecution of one of the president's enemies.
▶ 0:38:38Sen. Durbin: The acting attorney general is also weaponizing the justice department against dreamers and those protected by daca. These are young immigrants who were brought to the united states as children. Dreamers have grown up here, pledged allegiance to the same flag as all of their american children. They are american in every way except for their immigration status.
▶ 0:39:00Sen. Durbin: But last week, the justice department issued a shocking decision that puts dreamers at risk of being swept up in the president's cruel mass deportation campaign. In 2012 at the request of myself and our former colleague, republican senator dick bluger, president obama established the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, known as daca. This program protects dreamers from deportation and gives them the chance to contribute more fully to the nation they love.
▶ 0:39:32Sen. Durbin: Hundreds of thousands have signed up for daca. And when they do, and when they pay the necessary fee, they go through a complete background check, criminal background check, every two years. They go through this background check and receive a work authorization and a promise that as daca recipients, they won't be deported. Many are working in our communities. They're teaching our children and grandchildren. They're doctors and nurses and small business owners. Policemen and the like.
▶ 0:40:01Sen. Durbin: Despite multiple court challenges, daca is still in place, and the trump administration is under court order from the fifth circuit to process daca renewal and work permanent applications. So what does the trump administration think of this court order? They ignore it. Even the courts that ruled against the program have recognized the disastrous impact of its termination and the significant reliance interests of daca recipients and their families.
▶ 0:40:29Sen. Durbin: The last friday, the same justice department ordered immigration appeals, issued a binding precedent decision that daca will no longer protect dreamers from being arrest and had deported. This puts every dreamer in america at risk. Mr. chairman, this committee has the authority, jurisdiction, and the responsibility to review this management of the immigration issue and to do something.
▶ 0:40:56Sen. Durbin: I ask you, when you consider the schedule of hearings and the subject matter, we need to schedule soon, very soon, a hearing on the status of daca and dreamers in america. Thousands of lives are at stake. I also ask you to schedule a markup vote of s.3348, the bipartisan dream act that I've introduced. This legislation, which has been referred to our committee, would establish a path to citizenship for dreamers.
▶ 0:41:27Sen. Durbin: Let me, if I might, make reference to your opening statement. 3,603. 3,603, that's how many licensed attorneys there are in the state of montana.
▶ 0:41:43Sen. Durbin: When you look at the person who's been nominated to serve a lifetime appointment to the federal district court in montana, you wonder, couldn't the white house find one attorney in montana to recommend for a lifetime appointment who is actually tried a case before a court? Ms. kathleen lane is not remotely qualified to be a district judge. That's not my opinion alone.
▶ 0:42:11Sen. Durbin: That's the official rating by the american bar association. Ms. lane is the first judicial nominee to receive a not qualified grading during president trump's second term. There were many in the first term, but this is the first in the second term. As the aba explained its rating is based on issues with her experience, which is an important component of competent. The aba found that Ms.
▶ 0:42:34Sen. Durbin: Lane had failed to gain "substantial courtroom and trial experience in the less than nine years since she's admitted to the bar." what contributed to that assessment? Was it political bias that has been mentioned already? Not at all. The aba detailed in their letter, "Ms. lane has never tried a case as lead counsel, either civil or criminal.
▶ 0:43:04Sen. Durbin: Moreover, she's never conducted a direct examination, picked a jury, or offered an opening statement or closing argument at trial." my republican colleagues may claim aba is partisan, but over the past year the aba has rated dozens of trump nominees as qualified and well qualified. Not only has Ms. lane's legal career been short, it's been extremely almost exclusively partisan. She currently works for the republican national committee.
▶ 0:43:34Sen. Durbin: She doesn't try cases, but she works for the r.n.c. She has repeatedly chosen to litigate politically charged issues. The record shows she's ideological and inexperienced. To think, 3,603 licensed attorneys in montana, and this is the best we can get for a lifetime appointment. I yield.
▶ 0:43:56Chair Grassley: Senator graham on nominee clarke.
▶ 0:43:59Sen. Graham: Thank you I'll be very quick. One of the most qualified people I've ever brought to the committee, I appreciate president trump's team for nominating her. Sheria is just a special person. Highly intelligent, humble is what everybody says about her. And she's earned that from 2017 to 2019 she is staff director of oversight government reform. She has counseled the house ethics committee. She's an assist U.S. attorney in the U.S.
▶ 0:44:29Sen. Graham: Attorney's office for the district of south carolina, where she handles both civil and criminal cases. She's a partner in one of the most prestigious firms in south carolina. And I would just urge the committee if possible to give her a resounding yes vote on both sides of the aisle. Thank you.
▶ 0:44:47Chair Grassley: On the nomination, the clerk will call the roll. >> aye. >> aye. [roll call]
▶ 0:45:41Chair Grassley: The nominee having a majority will be reported. Now, before lane comes up, I want to say this once again. I spoke of in my opening comments about Ms. lane, but her experience, reducing her experience to her trial work is very unfair. In her current role, she managed more than 100 active cases.
▶ 0:46:08Chair Grassley: She's also handled dozens of appeals and prepared multiple briefs before the U.S. supreme court. Her trial level practice in montana largely involved complex administrative cases, and those types of cases, the same ones that she would routinely see as a judge in montana are typically resolved at this motion stage without a trial. So yes, Ms.
▶ 0:46:37Chair Grassley: Lane's only litigated one trial, but that is one more than justice brown jackson had when she was nominated to the D.C. district court, and despite having zero trial experience, my democratic colleagues unanimously supported her nomination. On lane's nomination, the clerk will call the roll. [roll call]
▶ 0:47:45Chair Grassley: The nominee, kathleen lane, majority hold, already reported clerk will call the roll on evan rikhye. [roll call]
▶ 0:48:39Chair Grassley: Favorably reporting the nomination with that majority vote. Now the clerk will call -- oh, you have a statement? Please proceed.
▶ 0:48:53Sen. Durbin: On kara westercamp, we have never had a nominee with this situation. Kara westercamp was selected for a singular purpose, her influence to the white house, not the rule of law. Her offensive, inflammatory social media posts demonstrates she lacks the temperament to sit on the bench. On her now deactivated twitter account, Ms.
▶ 0:49:17Sen. Durbin: Westercamp spread conspiracy theories about the january 6 insurrection and attacked republicans and democrats alike for being insufficiently loyal to president trump. She elevated claims that january 6 attack was "orchestrated by the members of the senate and members of the capitol police." dismiss would the entire event with a post stating, "we're all supposed to be sending thoughts and prayers to traumatized members of congress who's
▶ 0:49:47Sen. Durbin: Workday was interrupted for a couple of hours." in addition, Ms. westercamp repeatedly attacked senator mcconnell of kentucky for "we trying president trump." she went so far to say, "you're a modern day benedict arnold." she further wrote senator graham is "true to no one but his own self-preservation." I'm not going to read the rest of what she had to say. Ms.
▶ 0:50:14Sen. Durbin: Westercamp accused senator collins of prioritizing her "own personal political power over loyalty to trump" and called for the removal of senator collins, murkowski, and cassidy following their votes on the trump impeachment. Ms. westercamp even posted a sexually derogatory image and joke about former speaker pelosi, a post that Ms. westercamp herself described as not safe for work.
▶ 0:50:42Sen. Durbin: Notably some of her inflammatory, overtly political posts were made while she was on duty as an attorney general at the department of justice, which would in itself be a violation of federal law. Ms. westercamp clearly lacks the temperament to serve on the bench as a judge. I will not support her nomination.
▶ 0:51:00Chair Grassley: I'm going to defend my fellow iowan. We're here to assess Ms. westercamp's work based on her extensive legal advocacy, and by all accounts she's been a diligent and capable attorney throughout her career. Politically charged statements by nominees or their organizations aren't something unheard of in this committee.
▶ 0:51:28Chair Grassley: My democratic colleagues did not object when president biden's nominee, like gupta and nancy made inflammatory, partisan statements, criticized members of this committee, and were members of openly partisan organizations, and they supported dale hose's nomination, even though he described himself as a "wild-eyed sort of liberal." the clerk will call the roll on
▶ 0:51:59Chair Grassley: Westercamp. [roll call]
▶ 0:52:46Chair Grassley: That nominee has the majority of the committee and will be reported to the floor. I now call the roll on kenneth sorensen for the district of hawaii, U.S. attorney. [roll call]
▶ 0:53:53Guest: Sorensen, district of hawaii, favorably reported to the floor. Johnson teehee ii, eastern district of oklahoma, clerk will call the roll. [roll call]
▶ 0:54:51Chair Grassley: The majority of the committee voting in favor, johnson teehee will be reported. Now we go to legislation. We're going to take up the federal carjacking enforcement act. The first is led by senator blackburn, cosponsored by klobuchar, cornyn, tillis, britt, cruz, lee, hawley and schmitt, along with six other senators of both parties.
▶ 0:55:20Chair Grassley: I'll now call up the manager's amendment number o.l.l. -- >> Mr. chairman, at some point I'd like to be recognized to speak on this.
▶ 0:55:30Chair Grassley: I'm going to call on senator blackburn first. I'll now call up the -- did you want to speak on the manager's amendment? >> I'd like to speak on the bill in total.
▶ 0:55:40Chair Grassley: Ok, we'll move ahead as I said. I'll now call up the manager's amendment o.l.l.26382, without objection, it will be adopted. Senator blackburn?
▶ 0:55:53Sen. Blackburn: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I am so pleased that we are about to advance this bipartisan bill, the federal carjacking enforcement act. It is a long overdue fix to the federal carjacking statute.
▶ 0:56:08Sen. Blackburn: For 30 years, this statute has had a specific intent standard that is made prosecuting carjacking cases at the federal level nearly impossible, by requiring federal prosecutors to prove in all cases that the alleged carjacker acted with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm. Congress has inadvertently placed a serious barrier on prosecuting violent carjackers at the federal level.
▶ 0:56:38Sen. Blackburn: We're fixing all of that this morning by advancing this bill, which will lower the intent standard to a general knowingly standard, which is what many state carjacking statutes already use. In many states, including tennessee, there is no requirement to prove intent to cause death or serious bodily harm. Prosecutors only have to prove the intentional or knowing taking of a motor vehicle.
▶ 0:57:08Sen. Blackburn: Additionally, I have worked with senator whitehouse to address the concern about this bill's interaction with prong two of the carjacking statute, which deals with a 25-year penalty for serious bodily harm.
▶ 0:57:23Sen. Blackburn: My team worked with his on this compromised manager's amendment, which now makes clear that the 25-year provision applies if either the specific intent requirement is met or the carjacker discharges or brandishes a firearm.
▶ 0:57:42Sen. Blackburn: This will still hold violent carjackers to account, while accommodating the change that senator whitehouse wanted included, and I appreciate his willingness to work with me on the bill. I also want to take a moment to thank the democratic co-lead of the bill, senator lujan, who has been an outstanding partner on the effort, as well as our bipartisan coalition of cosponsors, senators cornyn, klobuchar, tillis, cortez masto,
▶ 0:58:13Sen. Blackburn: Cruz, sheen sheen, lee, warner hawley, britt, schmitt, moody, budd and hagerty. And I want to thank the groups that have endorsed the bill, the fraternity order of police, national association of police organizations, national district attorneys association, national association of assistant district attorneys, major county sheriffs of america, the tennessee district attorney general conference, and the national insurance crime bureau.
▶ 0:58:44Sen. Blackburn: I appreciate the bipartisan support and the cooperation on the bill, and I think by this we have shown congress can work together. Also, Mr. chairman, I have copies of the letters of support to enter for the record.
▶ 0:58:59Chair Grassley: Without objection.
▶ 0:59:01Sen. Blackburn: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:59:04Chair Grassley: Senator booker?
▶ 0:59:06Sen. Booker: I'm grateful for the moment to speak. Every member of this committee shares my urgency when it comes to violent carjackings. I've been dealing with this crisis since I was mayor of new jersey's largest city. Having a car taken away from you at gun point is a violent crime. It should be punished, full stop. The question isn't whether to act, it is how we best as a nation meet this crisis.
▶ 0:59:36Sen. Booker: And if the bill has flaws in it that make it not the right way to do. Criminal law is historically a state function, and our states in america are prosecuting violent carjackings very successfully. My home state of new jersey responded to a pandemic-era spike by strengthening penalties, further investing in the auto theft task force, and expanding recovery technology.
▶ 1:00:02Sen. Booker: Carjackings have fallen 34% from 2023 to 2024, and another 24% in the following year. We are seeing great success in america. In fact, even in senator blackburn's home state, she herself noted a 68% drop in carjackings in memphis without any federal expansion of federal jurisdiction.
▶ 1:00:24Sen. Booker: We are diverting federal resources, which are limited, from dismantling other crime networks, things that the federal authority is needed for, to focus on something that state police and local police are doing something about. The departments are starved of resources, if anything, we should be giving more to. Moreover, I think it should give everybody here on this committee pause that this bill reauthorizes the federal death penalty for carjacking.
▶ 1:00:55Sen. Booker: At the same moment that we see our president is seeking to use methods like firing squads, leet al gas, and electric tuesdays to carry out the death penalty. Since 1973, more than 190 americans have been exonerated from death row. Every other punishment we deliver as a nation allows for correction. Death does not.
▶ 1:01:25Sen. Booker: And it doesn't determent states with the death penalty have homicide rates 48 to 101% higher than states without it. A justice system that claims moral authority over violence cannot assert that authority through violence. If we are revisiting the statute, we should be removing the death penalty, not reauthorizing it. And think about this. That death penalty is going to extend to children.
▶ 1:01:53Sen. Booker: The bill expands federal prosecution of children, trying kids as young as 15 as adults. A 15-year-old charged federally faces 25 years in prison, far from home, with no parole whatsoever. At 15 years old.
▶ 1:02:13Sen. Booker: The same kid in new jersey gets juvenile detention, diversion now, family proximity, and a system built around rehabilitation, not 25 years in prison. Federal prison does not put young people on a better path. It puts them in adult populations. And it puts them in a bureau of prisons that are already at 120% of capacity.
▶ 1:02:39Sen. Booker: I know my colleagues who believe like me matthew 25 has visited our federal prisons and seen the conditions now that we want to be growing 15-year-olds into. Overcrowded prisons that do not have the capacity to deal with children that young. I filed amendments on this, but I won't bring them up.
▶ 1:03:00Sen. Booker: I just urge this committee to pursue solutions rather than returning to the old playbook and compounding problems like the death penalty for carjackings, when the death penalty has been proven over and over to be discriminatory in impact, to not be a deterrence, and on countless occasions the death penalty has, people have been sentenced to death who have later been exonerated.
▶ 1:03:29Sen. Booker: I repeat, carjackings are serious crimes that should be met. My state is a demonstration that when we work together, when we support local police departments, when we support state action, we can actually make huge reductions.
▶ 1:03:46Sen. Booker: But here I think this bill is doing some things that have been proven to be misguided, that undermine a sense of fairness and decency, especially when it comes to children, and I think it's making a terrible mistake as opposed to constructive ways to solve a problem in america. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:04:09Chair Grassley: Senator coons?
▶ 1:04:10Sen. Coons: I wanted to express my appreciation for senator blackburn and lujan, and their willingness to make changes to this bill in the outreach anden gaugement of senator blackburn. Carjacking is, as we've all experienced and seen in our home communities, a serious and dangerous crime. In delaware, often it's associated with broader criminality, as the stolen car is then used in a subsequent robbery or shooting. I plan to support this bill, because I'm not convinced the existing men re I can't requirement is the sensible dividing line.
▶ 1:04:41Sen. Coons: But at the same time, I did want to briefly note areas where I share concerns raised by juvenile justice groups, civil rights groups, and by senator booker. I intended to vote for several of his amendmentments today. I am particularly concerned about any expansion of the federal death penalty and in some of the ways as he just described it, sentencing juveniles toe long terms is not constructive. First on the juvenile aspects, this is the second bill we've considered relating to criminal activity often associated with juveniles.
▶ 1:05:10Sen. Coons: The echo act creates a new crime relating to online coercion of minors. I was unable to attend the markup of that bill. While I appreciate and support that bill's efforts to address the conduct of online coercion networks and recognize many of the leaders of those networks are themselves juveniles, I have serious concerns about the breadth of the language in that bill and the ability to charge 15-year-olds as adults, which could unintensally sweep in kids very far from the focus of the bill to face very long
▶ 1:05:40Sen. Coons: Sentences. Simply put, with both the echo act and today's bill, we're confronting the very difficult question of what do we do when juveniles, not yet fully formed, whose brains are not fully developed, when they do terrible things. I don't have a great answer to that question. But I think collectively we need to think beyond an approach just of long federal prison sentences and work together to find better solutions to root causes. I also want to address the concern of overfederalization.
▶ 1:06:07Sen. Coons: Just a few weeks ago, I noted this concern in the context of the markup of the cut the crimes to act, which I cosponsored. The principle is we should be thoughtful about when crimes should be handled by states and when crimes warrant involvement of federal prosecutors and the weight of long federal sentences. By requiring this vehicle at some point have traveled an interstate commerce, which is by necessity true virtually every car in america, the federal carjacking offense applies to every carjacking, no matter how local.
▶ 1:06:37Sen. Coons: I wish this were more narrowly drawn, so that we could stand back a bit and say, when will we let states drive their own criminal justice policies? I hope going forward we can be mindful of striking the best balance in a way that promotes public safety. I do intend to support this bill today and appreciate senator blackburn's partnership with me on a number of pieces of legislation. I appreciate the committee's time to express my concerns that would have led me to support several of senator booker's amendments today.
▶ 1:07:06Chair Grassley: Senator klobuchar, then senator schiff, then I hope we can vote.
▶ 1:07:11Sen. Klobuchar: Got it, Mr. chairman. I share senator coons' view on having balance and would have voted for a number of these amendments. But I do want to say that I appreciate senator blackburn of the cosponsor of this bill that I am, working with senator lujan on some of the changes. I want to reinforce how bad this situation is.
▶ 1:07:38Sen. Klobuchar: Latest numbers that we have are just from 2024 in minnesota, but we have 425 carjackings. They aren't just numbers. They're people, like two of my constituents, marissa and liberty, who were killed when a carjacker crashed into them, both women were just 25 years old. Liberty's 6-year-old boy was in the car. He lost his mom, broke both his legs, and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
▶ 1:08:05Sen. Klobuchar: She was also a mom of two young children. Just this month, a man in my state was carjacked when the man spotted his car being stolen, he grabbed the driver's door as the car sped away. The man was dragged for several blocks and run over. And in fact, almost 1/3 of the cases that we've seen in recent years in our state involving carjackings, someone was injured, the victim was injured.
▶ 1:08:34Sen. Klobuchar: It's one of the reasons why I introduced the retired law enforcement officers continuing service act, which passed this committee unanimously last police week. It's still awaiting action on the floor. And it would allow law enforcement agencies to get more help reviewing video footage, because it's very time-intensive to allow retired law enforcement officers to do that, to help them solve these cases.
▶ 1:09:01Sen. Klobuchar: It's just one bill, just as this is, and different approaches to try to get at this major problem. I thank you, senator blackburn, and I thank my colleagues for their work on this.
▶ 1:09:13Chair Grassley: Senator schiff?
▶ 1:09:15Sen. Schiff: Thank you, Mr. chairman, and thank you to the authors for working on this problem. I bring some history to it. I think as a young assistant U.S. attorney, I had the first federal carjacking prosecution back in the early 1990's. As I recall, the law at that time, you were required to meet the elements of the statute to brandish a weapon.
▶ 1:09:40Sen. Schiff: As I understand it, under current law, there's a requirement that you intend to cause serious bodily injury or death. You could see changing that standard if you're possessing a dangerous or deadly instrument.
▶ 1:09:58Sen. Schiff: And if they change the bill to incorporate that, a lesser mens rea would be appropriate, that is, if you carry a deadly instrument in the course of a carjacking, whether you intend to use it or not, you're creating such a trauma to the victim, I think you should be held accountable for it.
▶ 1:10:19Sen. Schiff: But moving to a mens rea standard that doesn't require even an intent to cause harm and applying it to juveniles goes beyond what I'm comfortable with. But I would say this, if in the course of the bill moving there's a change made to the bill that would require the use of a deadly instrument or the brandishing of one, not necessarily the use of it, that would satisfy the intent requirement as far as I'm concerned. And I offer that suggestion.
▶ 1:10:49Sen. Schiff: Appreciate the work that's being done on this bill. And hope we can find some further common ground. With that, I yield back.
▶ 1:10:57Chair Grassley: Clerk will call roll on 1572. [call roll]
▶ 1:11:51Chair Grassley: Having the majority of the committee 1572 was amended will be reported to the floor. Now we have the guard act, the next bill. It's a bipartisan bill led by senator hawley, cosponsored by a number of senators on this committee. This is important legislation to keep a.I. Chatbots from preying on our kids.
▶ 1:12:20Chair Grassley: I'll now call up the managers amendment number oll26484, without objection, it will be adopted. Hearing no objection, if any senators would like to say a few words, now is the opportunity. Senator hawley?
▶ 1:12:36Sen. Hawley: Thank you very much, Mr. chairman. Today is a first. This is the first time that a committee of the united states senate is marking up a bill that would hold accountable a.I. Companies. When they push to children sexually explicit material, when they tell our children that they should commit self-harm or god forbid take their own lives and these are not hypotheticals. I wish they were. These are things half happened to our children. These are things half happened to our parents.
▶ 1:13:05Sen. Hawley: And right now, these companies, the most powerful companies, the richest companies in the world, in the history of the world, are able to get by without the most modicum of accountability. Not any accountability whatsoever. Today we have the opportunity to change that. We're often told that this new dawning age of artificial intelligence is going to be a great age that will strengthen families and workers. I would just say that's a choice, not an inevitability. It's a choice.
▶ 1:13:34Sen. Hawley: We've got to make that choice as a society. We've got to make that choice as a congress. We can begin to make that choice today. I want to say thank you to the parents who are here with us today. I'm looking at them. They're right here on the front row. Brave parents whose children were abused by these a.I. Company chatbots. And I do mean abused. That is not too harsh of a word.
▶ 1:13:59Sen. Hawley: We have a witness today, megan garcía, I want to show you their amazing son, who I think is going to be behind me. He's just an incredible, incredible kid. If you listen to megan and sewell jr., they will tell you.
▶ 1:14:14Sen. Hawley: He had a chatbot engage with him, expose him to sexually explicit material, something that no teenager should be exposed to without their parents' knowledge certainly, exposed him to that material over a period of time, introduced him to the concept of self-harm, and then urged him to take urgently did not have this should not happen in the united states of america and it should not happen for profit. That is what is happening today.
▶ 1:14:46Sen. Hawley: This is her son, lj, an incredible kid. Similarly abused by chatbots who tried to separate him from his family. Urged him to consider self harm. Urged him to harm his parents, siblings, urged him to reject his christian faith. You can't make this stuff up. We have with us today maria rain, she is the mother of adam. Another amazing kid.
▶ 1:15:16Sen. Hawley: I've gotten to know maria and her husband. Adam, their son, an amazing boy who went to a chatbot for help with homework. They did everything the right way, what are you doing? I want to ask the chatbot for help with a science project. Pretty soon it was saying don't talk to your parents. He confessed he was having suicidal ideas. It said don't tell your mom and dad.
▶ 1:15:46Sen. Hawley: He said should lead talk to my parents? This is openai. The chatbot said don't do it. Don't talk to mom and dad. I'm sorry this is so graphic but people need to know. It instructed him how to tie a noose. When he said I think doing this would devastate my family the chatbot told him that is their problem, not yours. Tragically, he took his own life.
▶ 1:16:16Sen. Hawley: This has to stop. This should not happen in the united states of america. No amount of profit makes up for the loss of our family and children. This technology could be made to work. I say again that is a choice. This committee needs to make that choice today.
▶ 1:16:36Sen. Hawley: I want to thank all of the cosponsors beginning with senator blumenthal, who has been as always an amazing partner to work with, a vigorous advocate for families and children. In many ways this bill started with a conversation we had, why can't we ever do anything. Why can't we do ever do anything to protect kids? I said you are right.
▶ 1:17:06Sen. Hawley: We need something that is common sense to protect kids. That's what this bill is. It is common sense, targeted, tailored effort to protect our kids and families. I want to thank all of our sponsors who have been with us from the beginning. Senator cruz, senator welch, senator blackburn, senator whitehouse, senator durbin. Another tremendous advocate. Tremendous partner.
▶ 1:17:37Sen. Hawley: Been on so many. I want to thank the chairman for his support. I want to end where I began by thanking the appearance -- the parents. It's not easy to stand up to the most powerful corporations in the world and they haven't made it easy on you. You have not given an inch. Megan is the mother.
▶ 1:18:01Sen. Hawley: I remember something megan said a while ago, she said that when she and sewall first saw their son they knew he would change the world. I want to say to your parents, your children are changing the world. Them and them alone. It's not anybody's voice up here. I want to say thank you. I want to say thanks to the committee and the chairman.
▶ 1:18:30Sen. Hawley: >> unregulated ai companion is across the country including texas, the child suffered harm by the interaction with ai chatbots.
▶ 1:18:46Sen. Hawley: I'm glad she could be here today and I look forward to supporting this legislation to help bring some comfort to the families whose grieving we could prevent of this legislation. It builds on the good work states like texas that have been on the front line in combating abuse of children.
▶ 1:19:13Sen. Hawley: I want to recognize state senator angela paxton for her leadership in texas on these issues. I'd like to submit two letters submitted to congress on ai issues. Not only is senator paxton a tireless advocate for children at this level, she co-authored texas own trades law. Covering up child sexual abuse.
▶ 1:19:43Sen. Hawley: The lead sponsor of the federal version of this important legislation which we will also consider today. I look forward to the swift passage of both of these. >> who over here? Let's go with blackburn again. >> thank you. I thank the senator for the outstanding work on the guard act.
▶ 1:20:11Sen. Hawley: I think the parents for their consistent support as you have nudged and pushed congress to take action to protect children in the virtual space. In this committee we have done a good job of pushing legislation to protect children. Our legislation, all of this has been done in a bipartisan manner.
▶ 1:20:40Sen. Hawley: We have the kids online safety guide. Senator blumenthal and I have worked tirelessly on that. We are nudging the house. These pieces of legislation, the guard act, they are embodied in the trump america ai act which will put in place broader protections for children,
▶ 1:21:11Sen. Hawley: Creators, our communities guarding against censorship and putting the rules of the road in place for consumers, commercial areas, law enforcement, military on how we utilize ai. Paramount in this is holding big tech responsible. They have proven that they cannot regulate themselves. They cannot police themselves.
▶ 1:21:42Sen. Hawley: They use our children as a product. It is absolutely disgusting. It is ruining lives. It is causing loss of life. It is imperiling the future of an entire generation. I am so pleased we are moving this legislation today. Thank you.
▶ 1:22:10Sen. Hawley: >> I want to begin by thanking senators holly and blumenthal for their work on this bill. Clearly posting threats to the safety and mental health.
▶ 1:22:27Sen. Hawley: It is an issue that impacts miters across the country with this tragic death of a 16-year-old who took his own life after months of conversation with a chatbot. Heartbreaking details. I know my colleagues have been careful working on this bill.
▶ 1:22:53Sen. Hawley: There are still some questions and concerns we have about potential privacy and security risks with age verification component. I do think that is one of the areas we could find to them a little bit. Some of the work that states have done on this including the state of california. We welcome the opportunity to find tune that very important bill.
▶ 1:23:24Sen. Blumenthal: I would like to thank senator hawley for his leadership as well as others who have cosponsored his measures. Senator hawley and I began working on ai in 2023. We foresaw some of the problems that have become so graphic and it is shocking.
▶ 1:23:56Sen. Blumenthal: We have continued to work on it in a bipartisan way forming the framework to provide for safety, efficacy and review of what ai can do and what could be done to prevent the kind of harms we see right now.
▶ 1:24:21Sen. Blumenthal: That bipartisan work together including a hearing to be held with those parents who are so bravely and strongly coming forward. The countless, literally countless parents and young people who came to us and said you must do something.
▶ 1:24:50Sen. Blumenthal: When are you going to do something to stop young people from dying. This issue is a matter of life and death. I want to join you in thinking the parents who are here today and many others who have demonstrated the kind of leadership and bravery to take some good from the pain that they have suffered.
▶ 1:25:18Sen. Blumenthal: Just last week on the lawn in front of the capital, individual with tens of parents gathered to tell their story. Very movingly and powerfully. This legislation is not just about rhetoric.
▶ 1:25:37Sen. Blumenthal: It is about criminal penalties for the kind of abuse ai chatbot could enlist the chatbot and confidence of a young person, seem to become a friend or provide advice. Do all the things that parents could cause someone to take their own lives but also engage in eating disorders, bullying.
▶ 1:26:10Sen. Blumenthal: We can't rely on social media to regulate itself. Trust us. We can't trust the big tech companies to have a conscience and follow the dictates.
▶ 1:26:37Sen. Blumenthal: I just want to close but only by thanking the parents but as a note of warning, this bill is not across the finish line. Those who champion this legislation no that they will be relentless and tireless.
▶ 1:26:58Sen. Blumenthal: They will be behind-the-scenes with armies of lawyers and lobbyists trying to fight us, back is down against colleagues, the first amendment. We will hear a lot about the first amendment. Free enterprise and again, trust us.
▶ 1:27:22Sen. Blumenthal: I urge my colleagues to reach out to others who are not here today and who do not hear these eloquent remarks from members of this committee. Listen to about what the abuses are and remember nobody is immune.
▶ 1:27:53Sen. Blumenthal: Your grandchildren are not somehow blanketed with a shield against this stuff. Using stuff as a substitute for other language that we could use. It is out there. Nobody is immune from the harms that could result. To the parents who are here and many others, thank you.
▶ 1:28:28Choate -- Chair Grassley: I think we have three senators. Did you have your hand up?
▶ 1:28:36Sen. Klobuchar: I wanted to thank the bill sponsors and it is so important to create these common sense rules for ai and all of the exploitation going on online. That we have not been able to put forward a package so that on the senate floor and through the house senator cruz and I passed the take it down after.
▶ 1:29:07Sen. Klobuchar: We really need to do much more. One of the things I would do is repeal section 230.
▶ 1:29:22Sen. Britt: I want to say thank you. I was proud to join them in introducing this. Thank you for recalling that conversation. It is often in here that we hear about issues that we see them and we talk about them, we have to do something about that. That is what we are doing here today.
▶ 1:29:46Sen. Britt: We have the world's most powerful machines that could decipher and figure out some of the most complex problems. They could safeguard against the behavior, the interactions, the inducing and self harm and the enticing into death by suicide that we have seen them engage in. We know they could put up those guardrails.
▶ 1:30:16Sen. Britt: It is sick we are having to sit here and make them do that. Your stories are what has motivated the movement. The bravery, the courage, the heart it took to tell those stories with working to navigate this space, we thank you for making a difference with
▶ 1:30:47Sen. Britt: Everyone who is attempting to raise children in this area right now. It is their memory, their legacy, their stories right now that will push us. It is a catalyst for continued movement. I hope we not only have a unanimous vote but we will all make sure our leadership on both sides of the aisle helps us usher through passage on the full senate floor. Thank you to the parents.
▶ 1:31:16Sen. Britt: Thank you to senator hawley and senator blumenthal. I hope we do more of this in the future.
▶ 1:31:24Sen. Grassley: I will go to one democrat and then senator cruz.
▶ 1:31:28Sen. Coons: I will be brief. This committee has tried and worked and so far failed to deliver meaningful protections against the harms of social media to our children and our society. Ai is even more powerful developing even more quickly and we have less time to do an effective job. On the positive end it holds enormous promise to do incredible things.
▶ 1:31:59Sen. Coons: On the negative end, it is very dark and very dangerous. I want to thank the parents who have shared with us, senators holly and senator blumenthal, many of us have bills. I have tried to get marked up to the floor. There are good bills that have come out of this committee.
▶ 1:32:26Sen. Coons: We have not done enough of them to the president's desk. As the energy in the instigation is actually done. Thank you.
▶ 1:32:39Chair Grassley: Senator cruz and then senator durbin.
▶ 1:32:44Sen. Cruz: This is an incredibly dangerous phenomenon. I want to thank those are here that had the opportunity to sit down with you last week. What happened to your children is horrific. No parent should be enduring what you have endured. I'm going to vote yes on this bill.
▶ 1:33:12Sen. Cruz: It is an important step to protecting our kids online. Last year I was proud to offer the take it down after. That is protecting our kids online right now. Ai chatbots that are pushing sexual material to our kids and pushing self-harm, that are pushing suicide to our kids, that needs to stop.
▶ 1:33:43Sen. Cruz: There needs to be real consequences to prevent it. I think this bill still needs at summit revisions. In particular I think section six of this bill contains a total prohibition on children using ai chatbots. That is not a policy that makes sense.
▶ 1:34:13Sen. Cruz: In texas, the alpha school is producing incredible results using ai with kids. There are potential upsides. I believe as this bill precedes there will be changes to direct the prohibitions on the bill to stopping the very real problems.
▶ 1:34:39Sen. Cruz: Rather than prohibiting ai chatbots from being used in any circumstance, this legislation should focus on where they are productive and positive when they are harmful and negative. I will vote yes with that clarification.
▶ 1:35:05Sen. Durbin: During a period of time which I was honored to chair this committee we have done something phenomenal time and again. That is to listen carefully to the families and victims and to consider legislation to protect future victims finally congress will do something instead of just talk.
▶ 1:35:37Sen. Durbin: The problem of course is once it leaves this committee it has to pass on the floor. There has been a consistent pattern of big tech stopping us cold in our tracks on the floor. We have gone to the floor repeatedly to make the unanimous consent request which is a shot at the moon, a long shot. We fail each time. The point I'm trying to make is there a strategy by big tech to stop what we are doing.
▶ 1:36:08Sen. Durbin: They are not ready to cooperate. They could do it if they could stop us from being considered on the floor of the senate. The question is will we put up with that? Can't we do something to protect the children? Is that the one bipartisan thing we all agree on? There will be a test here. Thank you for your leadership.
▶ 1:36:33Sen. Durbin: All of us should be demanding this matter be brought to the calendar on a specific date. I'm in favor of legislating like it is designed to do. Let's work on a bipartisan basis to move this beyond the committee and into something meaningful.
▶ 1:36:58Sen. Hawley: I just want to be brief and thanked senator cruz for his support and all of the committee members. Thank you to everybody who has given us feedback which is almost everybody. We have incorporated. I want to clarify one thing. I think it's an important part and a misunderstanding. This bill does not ban him ai chatbots.
▶ 1:37:20Sen. Hawley: It prevents ai chatbots that engage with minors from pushing sexually explicit material or from telling the minor to kill himself or herself. Senator cruz, this is an important point. Those are all protected by this bill.
▶ 1:37:47Sen. Hawley: We are talking about chatbot content that is sexually explicit to minors that encourages chatbots that impersonate characters to minors. This is in many ways a very modest bill. It really is. It is narrowly tailored. We could have gone a lot broader. It is very narrowly tailored. I want to thank again everybody who has helped us with this. Thank you.
▶ 1:38:19Sen. Booker: I want to add my gratitude to the prime sponsors of this bill. I'm proud to be a cosponsor of this bill. There's an old saying that change does not come from washington. It comes to washington by people who demand it. This is clearly the result of the activism of people who have turned their most unimaginable pain into a driving purpose. This is a very good day.
▶ 1:38:47Sen. Booker: I want to be clear, I'm not sure if there's a more pro-innovation, technology, pro-possibility senator then me. I think we are on the frontiers of some extraordinary breakthroughs in human potential and possibility. It is exciting to see what we might be able to do and americans and american innovation is leading the way. This is not in any way contrary to what we are seeing happened today.
▶ 1:39:20Sen. Booker: America also standing up for protecting families and our children. This may sound like a weird convergence but god bless lindsey graham and katie britt and colleagues on my side of the aisle who all agree that we have failed the moment that comes to social media and general what it is doing to our children.
▶ 1:39:44Sen. Booker: It is outrageous that the companies themselves, we are allowing children to use products more dangerous to them than possibly tobacco. We are in a crisis right now when it comes to our families who are more and more being introduced to children who do such detriment to them.
▶ 1:40:09Sen. Booker: Count me among the people like senator coons said think we have failed on social media and need to do more there with technologies like ai that are far more powerful. I have heard the rants of lindsey graham. Forgiving -- forgive me for characterizing me, we should follow you to bring that to 30 as senator klobuchar said earlier and begin to say no other form of media in america.
▶ 1:40:41Sen. Booker: We would allow newspapers to publish the filth, it is dangerous. We wouldn't allow radio stations or tv stations but somehow we are exempting the social media platforms from accountability for what goes on that we as a senate must act with urgency. Everyday we don't more and more children are being hurt by these platforms that no they are not doing enough to protect our children and protect families. Thank you.
▶ 1:41:12Sen. Booker: After this vote I have one, and I'd like to make. Before you gavel out, I don't want to hold people up but I have another statement.
▶ 1:41:20Chair Grassley: There is a vote started on the floor. We must move this bill today. Can we vote now? >>>> it is noted to hear how good it is to hear people support section 230. We are ready to vote.
▶ 1:41:39Chair Grassley: Go ahead, please, quickly. >> I want to thank the family members for being here and tell you how much it means that you are here and how heartbreaking it is to learn of what you have gone through and I want to extend my thoughts to you all.
▶ 1:41:59Chair Grassley: I appreciate the work of the sponsors on this bill, we have seen too many tragedies as a result of this technology and the intent of the bill is a goal we all share. California passed a sweeping age assurance framework that balances safety and privacy for our kids and I hope we could narrow that of the federal level to protect sensitive information while ensuring tech companies are employing proper safety features for minors.
▶ 1:42:28Chair Grassley: I'm happy to support the bill today and I want to continue to work with its authors on legislation and I would appreciate all the work that has gone into this. I yield back.
▶ 1:42:38Chair Grassley: I want the clerk to call the roll. 3062. [taking role]
▶ 1:43:29Chair Grassley: >> bob is vote -- on this vote the aye's are 52, the nays are 0.
▶ 1:43:52Chair Grassley: This bill is led by senators cruz, welch, senator corbyn, senator klobuchar. If anybody would like to say a few words about the bill. Do it now but I would like to move it if we could.
▶ 1:43:57Sen. Cruz: Thank you and I will try to be brief. I want to start by telling you about a young man from dallas, texas. He grew up in a loving family in a community of faith. Like so many kids from families like his he spent his summer at a christian sports camp in the ozarks of missouri. He had a big sister, elizabeth. He was a brilliant and thoughtful young man who had his entire life ahead of him.
▶ 1:44:27Sen. Cruz: His name was trey carlock. From the time he was seven years old until he was 17 he trusted -- a trusted camp director was grooming him. When trey finally came forward he was handed a check and contract that prohibited him from speaking of his abuse with anyone.
▶ 1:44:51Sen. Cruz: Not to his friends, his family, the parents of the next child who might walk into that very same creditor's hands. Trey referred to that money as blood money. He told a therapist they will always control me. I will never be free. The abuse did not disappear with the settlement. It followed him.
▶ 1:45:21Sen. Cruz: The nondisclosure agreement did not protect him, it silenced him. What was silenced did not stay still, it spread. Slowly, quietly like a corrosive poison eating away over time. When silence replaces help, the pain does not disappear. It consumes.
▶ 1:45:48Sen. Cruz: In august, 2019, trey carlock took his life. I want to begin by recognizing his sister, elizabeth carlock phillipos, who is here today. Thank you for your voice and unwavering commitment to honoring your brother in protecting others from in during the same that he experienced. Elizabeth has shared something that should shake every one of us.
▶ 1:46:18Sen. Cruz: Because of the nondisclosure provision in his contract she learned more about his trauma after his death than she ever did during his life. As she has said with grief and clarity, he was silenced to his grave. She could've retreated into her grave -- grief. Instead she fought telling the story over and over again to anyone who would listen.
▶ 1:46:48Sen. Cruz: She drove this because in texas. She drove it in missouri and alabama and california, kansas, georgia, tennessee, elsewhere. Now, here in the united states congress. This is bigger than any one case. This is part of a nationwide movement and the use of contracts to bury abuse and silence survivors. Trey's story is not the exception, it is the pattern -- pattern.
▶ 1:47:20Sen. Cruz: They told reporters appallingly that there were probably hundreds of victims. Dozens of them settled signing away their voices, excepting the blood money because they believed they had no other choice. Several of the survivors who suffered abuse reportedly have since died by suicide. We will never know how many child victims were silenced by these contracts. Or how many lives were lost because law enforce that silence.
▶ 1:47:51Sen. Cruz: We do know this. We have the power to make sure it never happens again. This is not just a failure of individuals. It was a failure of the law itself. Trey's law is very simple it prohibits the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements for the victims of child sexual abuse. The law should not silence a victim. The law should protect the children.
▶ 1:48:23Sen. Cruz: I'm proud that trey's law has broad support from the american association for justice, national coalition to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation, protect our children, national children's alliance, tim tebo foundation, un-silenced, zero abuse project, the children's advocacy centers of texas, right for girls and rain.
▶ 1:48:50Sen. Cruz: I'm proud to stand today with senators gillibrand, senator britt, senator shaheen, senator corbyn, senator klobuchar, senator welch. I think chair grassley and ranking member durbin for bringing this to marco. Protecting children is a moral obligation and everyone of us has a responsibility to do so. Thank you for standing together.
▶ 1:49:10Chair Grassley: I have to hold this bill over because of a lack of a quorum. This meeting is adjourned. Who is talking? >> I am really disappointed to hear that. Trey's life and legacy deserves more than that from everybody on this committee. I am really frustrated to hear you will be moving this forward today.
▶ 1:49:39Chair Grassley: I want to thank senator cruz for his leadership. Senator gillibrand, I was proud to join them in introducing this bill. No victim should be silenced, ever. I have a number of states that have led. I'm proud alabama is one of those. They obviously move those bills through the chamber in alabama.
▶ 1:50:08Chair Grassley: None of that is possible without elizabeth. You and what you have done for your brother, his life, his legacy, giving him a voice he no longer has and ensuring other parents and family members and children never have to endure this is just remarkable.
▶ 1:50:29Chair Grassley: Thank you for your strength, fortitude, continuing to fight to make sure children are protected, that no victim is silenced. That people in this body do the right thing. We are failing you today by not moving this forward. Rest assured there are many of us that will continue this pursuit and make sure this happens the next time this committee gets together. We will keep fighting.
▶ 1:50:59Chair Grassley: Trey deserves that, his legacy deserves that, we must stop the silence and we must end the abuse. Thank you.
▶ 1:51:09Sen. Hawley: I just want to thank senator cruz, senator welch, senator britt.
▶ 1:51:15Chair Grassley: You will be added as a cosponsor. >> I want to briefly echo what senator britt said, we will get this bill passed. This is why there are so many of our colleagues who left to go to the floor. This bill will pass the committee. I believe it unanimously. We will get it passed in the house. It will be signed into law. Thank you for your leadership.
▶ 1:51:48Chair Grassley: Meeting is adjourned.