During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) spoke about the removal of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) from a DHS briefing.
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00:00Mr. President, you can see and feel and hear
00:06the anger, the disappointment, the concern for the future of our country.
00:20Senator Alex Padilla is probably one of the first people that
00:26took time to sit down with me as a freshman senator to prepare me for this job.
00:38He serves this body and his state with intelligence and with grace and with poise.
00:48And so to see my colleague pushed, manhandled, taken to the ground, arms put
00:59behind his back. This person who anyone who meets will say is more of a gentle giant
01:11than someone who deserves that kind of treatment. It blows my mind. I think that's
01:22the thing. I am, I am, I am shocked. I am numb. I am angry. And I think part of it is
01:34because Senator Padilla is a senator, but there are people every day right now
01:41across this country who are facing this kind of concern of their treatment of
01:49peacefully trying to exhibit the, the, the voice of America. But also for him, he
01:56was just doing his job of oversight. Similarly, some of us also have spoken up
02:05about the Monica McIver from New Jersey, also a member of Congress doing her job
02:14oversight. If we don't have the ability as senators and Congress people, what does
02:23that mean for all of the citizens of this country? And so in this moment, this is a
02:31pivotal moment. This is a opportunity for our leadership here in this chamber as well
02:40as the other members on Democratic side and the Republican side to say this is
02:46unacceptable. That's really what this is about. When the incident happened, we were
02:54all on this floor. And I remember seeing the video and the shock that I felt. It
03:01literally took my breath away. And I turned to other members on the floor to say, have
03:06you seen this? And they had not seen it. I walked across the aisle to my Republican
03:12colleagues, Republican colleagues, they had not seen it. And there was a sense of
03:17shock as well. And so what remains to be seen is what we do with that shock, what we
03:24do with that indignation, what we do with the fact that Alex Padilla was doing his job
03:30on behalf of his constituents and on behalf of this country. That's what remains to
03:37be seen. Where do we go from here? And so you have heard folks talk about free
03:43speech, peaceful assembly, the ability to do our jobs of oversight. But ultimately what
03:56this is about is about the foundation of this country. And so I'm just shaking my
04:06head. I'm shaking my head. But I'm also resolute in the fact that we were called
04:18here for this moment. As bad as things may be, as bad as they may seem, we were called
04:26here for such a time as this. And the question is, what do we do with this time?
04:30And so, Mr. President, I ask my colleagues, again, on both sides of the aisle to speak
04:39up against not only this incident, but the incidents that we are seeing across this
04:44country. I ask my colleagues to come together on behalf of not only the American
04:52people, but the democracy on which this country stands. And I will continue to
04:58stand with Alex Padilla. I will continue to stand with those folks around this
05:03country who are facing this same kind of unacceptable behavior. Lastly, I would
05:13also mention that we do have a role and responsibility. There are three branches of
05:20government. Thank God for the courts right now holding it down. But this moment is the moment.
05:31There won't be a light switch that says, oh, democracy is gone. That's not how it happens.
05:37I've heard my good friend Chris Murphy talk about that, that it's piece by piece, moment
05:44by moment. We see it chipped away. Well, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to make sure
05:52that we do not let this slip away. Thank you, Mr. President, and I yield back.