Unanimous Consent Request
Floor Speech
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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, we are here in the U.S. Senate on this Tuesday. We had a vote yesterday evening, the first that we have had in some 6 weeks here. As I walked over to the Chamber just now from the Hart Building, at 4 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon, the only individuals whom I saw were the extraordinary men and women of the Capitol Police here in the building.
Suffice it to say, these are strange, unusual, challenging, and difficult times as we face the COVID-19 pandemic and as we address the challenges that our constituents, our friends, and our families are dealing with at home, whether it be the impact of the virus itself on our health and our health facilities or whether it be the impact-- truly, the economic devastation--that we are seeing in all corners of the Nation.
So the opportunity to be together as a body to address these challenges is important. It is challenging for us as we adapt to this time and this situation of wearing protective masks, of being separated from one another, of teleworking as we are. We are adapting. We are facing that challenge. We rightly must be doing this because, as the Nation deals with these matters related to the COVID-19, there are other matters that are taking place every day--issues that need to be addressed, problems that must be tackled, and matters of governance that we must be engaged in. National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Madam President, I woke up this morning and looked at my little news caps with which to focus on the day, this Tuesday, and they noted that today is Teacher Appreciation Day. We thank all of our teachers. Our teachers are certainly in an unusual situation now, as all of our students are. It is also Cinco de Mayo. It is also Giving Tuesday. For many, it feels like Groundhog Day every day because of, again, this strange time in which we are living. For so many, it just seems that every day is more and more of the same.
Today, May 5, is also a day that we have recognized for several years now as being the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. It is a matter that I would like to speak briefly to this afternoon. I recognize the devastation that so many families have seen when it comes to those they love who have gone missing or who have been found murdered, and I recognize the dark reality that many, we know, are still missing.
Unfortunately, for far too long, there has been silence on this issue. There has been a failure to act in the face of what we know and sometimes in the not knowing of what we are dealing with because we haven't asked the questions, which is equally problematic. It tears at my heart to hear the stories of those whom I have come in contact with in Alaska--a woman's story, a family's story--in that their words have been discounted. They have been dismissed because the woman who went missing or the woman who was murdered was a Native American woman.
We have to change that. We cannot accept that. We cannot let the statistics that have really just been allowed to accumulate for too long to remain as statistics. Every single one of these women was her own person, each story her own life story, each a member of her community. In addition to their being someone's lost daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, we should mourn the promise that these missing and murdered women meant to our communities--their being the next generations of mentors, role models, and changemakers.
When women are murdered or abducted, when women are trafficked--when individuals are left missing, discarded, or discounted--there is an injustice that is being done, and we cannot let that continue. By raising awareness of the epidemic, by giving these women their faces, their names, and by telling their stories, we are shining a light on a problem, and we are giving hope.
I acknowledge the work of a former colleague of mine here in the Senate, Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who came to this floor often as a strong, strong advocate for those Native women who have been dismissed and discounted. She shared pictures, gave names, and went beyond the statistics. She reminded me--encouraged me--that this is an effort that, together, we must address.
Unfortunately, we all have the stories--the stories that sicken you and just literally break your heart. The one that, perhaps, touches me most immediately and directly is the life of Ashley Johnson Barr. She was a beautiful 10-year-old girl who was taken from the children's playground in her hometown of Kotzebue, AK, which is a Native village on the northwest coast. She was brutally raped and murdered. Again, she was taken from the kids' playground to just outside her town. Her death and the tragedy around the circumstances of how she left the world are still open. It is still raw and has left a permanent scar on Alaskan communities.
What happened to Ashley is a reminder that, in my State, unfortunately, there is a darkness that is still, to this day, very, very hard to talk about, but we must. We have to talk about it. We have to act on it. We cannot turn a blind eye simply because it is difficult to talk about. We have to because we are seeing the stories that represent these statistics in unprecedented proportions. Let me give you some numbers to just put that into perspective.
Alaska Native women are 2\1/2\ times more likely to be victims of domestic violence. In Tribal villages and Native communities, domestic violence rates are up to 10 times higher than in the rest of the Nation. In 2015, it was estimated that 40 percent of sex-trafficking victims were Native Americans. Almost 40 percent of those who have been trafficked have been Native Americans. The rate of sexual violence victimization among Alaska's Native women is at least seven times greater than of non-Native females.
Again, I will just say these are unprecedented proportions. So, when we designate a day as a day of awareness--an awareness of those who have gone missing and who have been murdered as being indigenous women and girls--it has to be about more than awareness. It has to be about action. This is where Senator Cortez Masto and I have picked up on this work. She and I have worked together on several pieces of legislation that have helped to pave the way for greater collaboration and data collection between Federal agencies--our law enforcement and elected Tribal officials--to not only understand the extent of the issues but to develop methods with which to end these horrible crimes.
There are two bills. The first one is Savanna's Act. It combats the epidemic of murdered and missing Native women and girls by improving the Federal Government's response in addressing the crisis. We do this through the coordination among all levels of law enforcement by increasing data collection and information sharing and by empowering Tribal governments with the resources they need in the cases involving missing or murdered indigenous women and girls wherever they may occur.
The second piece of legislation is called the Not Invisible Act. It is aimed at addressing the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked Native women by engaging law enforcement, Tribal leaders, Federal partners, and service providers and by improving the coordination across the Federal agencies. The more we have reviewed this, we have learned that so much of the data is lacking. We have gaps. We just haven't been able to get the data that we need in order to do a better job of coordinating with our agencies.
The good news from all of this is that both of these bills have passed this body, and I thank my colleagues here in the Senate for their support of the measures. We advanced them unanimously on March 11, which was just a little while before we left to deal with the COVID pandemic. I truly want to thank the Senate for helping to prioritize these measures to protect indigenous women.
In addition to these measures that we have passed in the Senate, we have done more on the appropriations side. We have worked through the committees, and for the first time in the appropriations bill that President Trump signed in December, there was funding specifically directed to address the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked indigenous women--$6.5 million included for the BIA to take a really comprehensive look at the issue across BIA and IHS, the Indian Health Service.
It covers everything for the funding of cold casework, background checks, equipment needs, training, and a directive to the IHS with regard to forensic training. It also includes language that does more for the coordination and data collection amongst Tribal, local, State, and Federal law enforcement. So that is significant. The Executive order that was issued by the Trump administration late last year was very important in this effort.
I personally acknowledge the good work that Tara Sweeney has done, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. She has pulled together the agency coordination to respond to these cases. She has shown extraordinary heart--real heart--in responding to the calls from Tribes and advocates to address the crisis of missing and murdered Native women. So there has been so much at play that has come together.
What we need now is for the House to act on these legislative measures that we have moved through the Senate so that the President can sign them into law.
I think we recognize that as we are dealing with these matters that are directly related to the day-to-day response to COVID, as we have seen our economies slowed, as we have moved indoors to telework, the work that is required for us to help protect the most vulnerable among us continues. We know that work continues.
As we have worked aggressively across the country and in Alaskan communities to flatten the curve out there as it relates to the coronavirus, we know, unfortunately, that we have seen an uptick in domestic violence. Unfortunately, and truly sadly for so many, the order to shelter in place--``safer at home'' is the terminology used in some communities, and safer at home doesn't necessarily mean safe at home for far too many. Shelter in place is not a safe shelter. We are seeing increased calls to police departments during this time, but, interestingly enough, we are not seeing an increase in those who are seeking help or shelter in our women's shelters.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that I had a phone call with representatives from the various women's shelters around my State, with probably a dozen or so women on the line, and I asked specifically: How are we doing in the shelters? What are we seeing? Their numbers are down, and if you look at it from just a numbers perspective, you would say ``Good.'' But we know that domestic violence doesn't disappear or go away at times like the ones we are facing now; it just goes underground. I think what we are seeing is that concern and fear. As difficult as the situation may be at home, it might be more frightening to go to a shelter where one may be exposed to this invisible threat of the virus.
I wish I could say that, as a consequence of what we are seeing, our shelters are better off, but I fear that those who would seek shelter are not better off. So to make sure we are prepared to address these needs is yet another challenge for us in this body: to come together to address these issues that we know are with us--not only the levels of domestic violence but the impact that we know is present when it comes to mental and behavioral health, when people are fragile and yet are afraid to seek help because of the exposure to something else. We have work to do in this area, and that is something I intend to focus on in the days and weeks ahead.
I was encouraged to hear my friend, the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn, speaking to just these issues yesterday on the floor. We have much to do. These are challenging times on many different levels.
As we recognize this day of awareness for those who have gone missing--for those women and girls who have been murdered--know that this is more than just raising awareness. It is up to us. We owe it to them, their families, and their loved ones to act as well.
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