Source: United States Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn)
Klobuchar thanked gymnasts Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Minnesotan Maggie Nichols for coming forward
WASHINGTON – At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) investigation into Larry Nassar, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) delivered remarks thanking the gymnasts for their courage and calling for additional oversight and accountability to prevent sexual assault.
Klobuchar thanked gymnasts Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Minnesotan Maggie Nichols for sharing their experiences. “By coming forward today, you are going to make that difference so we can make sure on your behalf that this never happens again,” Klobuchar said.
The full transcript of the floor speech as given below and video available for TV download HERE and online viewing HERE.
Excellent. Thank you very much, all of you. And like my colleagues, I want to express my gratitude to you. As a fellow Minnesotan, I am particularly grateful to you, Maggie, for sharing your story with the Committee today.
All of you, and the other women and girls who make up the gymnastics community, continue to inspire us. I was one of the geeks that was up at 4 a.m. watching this live, watching the Olympics live this time. And to think when you fall off the balance beams and you get back on, or you grab those bars when you still have an injury, or you perform some floor exercise that no one knows was possible, to all of us that are watching, to us that is the courage — something we could never imagine doing.
But the real courage is what you’re doing today – your bravery is on full display. And as a former prosecutor, like some of my colleagues, I know firsthand, I’ve seen it, how hard it is to testify before a room of strangers, and this time you’re doing it in front of the U.S. Senate. And what you’re doing is of course part of your own healing, but it is also part of healing for kids you’re never going to meet. Little girls and boys that maybe are aware of your fame and what you’ve done, they may not ever be aware of what you are doing today. And I think you have heard it from so many of my colleagues that have been leading on these bills, and I’ve been proud to cosponsor them. But more must be done – more oversight, more accountability. By coming forward today, you are going to make that difference so we can make sure on your behalf that this never happens again.
Thank you Simone, McKayla, Maggie, and Aly, for representing the women and girls of USA Gymnastics so well on the world stage, but most importantly, so well today.
Thank you.
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