[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 5, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S709-S710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Maiden Speech

  Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. President, thank you for being here.
  Thank you to the floor staff, to the clerk, the entire Capitol team 
here who has been here overnight.
  This is actually the first time that I have ever spoken on the floor. 
I am a freshman Senator, newly elected from the State of Michigan. I 
did not anticipate doing my maiden speech so quickly and in reaction to 
what is going on right now in the country. They tell us that the maiden 
speech is supposed to be something you think about and you build up to 
it. In the first 3 or 4 months, you give your first speech. And I find 
myself here early in the morning, participating in an attempt to stand 
up on behalf of something very, very simple, which is the U.S. 
Constitution.
  Before I was a Senator, I was a dedicated career public servant. I 
was a CIA officer. I am what is called a 9/11 baby. I happened to be in 
New York City on my second day of graduate school when 9/11 happened. 
It completely changed my life.
  I got recruited by the CIA right out of grad school, and within a 
year, I was on my first of three tours in Iraq alongside the military.
  I worked at the CIA, I worked at the Pentagon, and I worked very 
proudly for both Democratic and Republican administrations.
  I was detailed to the Bush White House, the George W. Bush White 
House. I was there the Friday that he left office and the Monday that 
Barack Obama walked in. I did the same job proudly for two very 
different Presidents from two very different parties. In those two 
administrations, I briefed the President and other senior officials on 
the most serious national security issues.
  I eventually went on to be nominated to be an Assistant Secretary of 
Defense. I was at the Pentagon for 7 years, and that is where I was 
until 2017.
  In 2018, I decided to run for Congress. This was never a body I was 
looking to be a part of. When you grow up in the national security 
world, briefing Congress, doing hearings, you are not often looking to 
be a part of this body, but to me, it was important to get in the fight 
for the country that I love.
  In 2018, I won my first race for Congress and then just most recently 
won my first race for the Senate.
  I am very keenly aware that I won as a Democrat on the same ballot as 
Donald Trump. So that means the very independently minded voters of 
Michigan voted for Donald Trump and Elissa Slotkin on the same ballot. 
That gives me a very specific mandate. That means wherever I can, I am 
going to be looking for places that I can work together on things like 
veterans issues or broadband internet or agriculture, but I think every 
day, my challenge is going to be to figure out what are the things I 
have to compromise on and

[[Page S710]]

what are the things I should never compromise on.
  In my short 30 days here, what has become clearer and clearer to me 
is that the issues that I should never compromise on go right to the 
heart of who we are as a people; that is, our Constitution, our 
democracy, and our rights.
  I think there are going to be plenty of areas where I can overlap 
with Trump policies. The auto industry, agriculture, dealing with 
China, I think there is going to be overlap. But what has disturbed me 
the most in my first month here, 30 days on the job, is the willingness 
of people in the city and in this body to roll over as the 
Constitution, our most sacred document, is pushed aside.