[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 101 (Thursday, June 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3376-S3377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ALEX PADILLA
Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I agree with my friend from Maryland. This
has to be a moment where we just drop our political affiliations, where
we decide that we are Americans; that the Constitution matters; that
dissent defines America; and we say and do the right thing.
I think there is still time for our Republican colleagues here to
speak out. I understand they may still want to collect more facts, but
as each minute and each hour passes, it is becoming clear that the main
justification seems to be simply that Senator Padilla was showing some
level of disrespect.
The first comments from our Republican colleagues, I think if you are
an American who cares about free speech, are really concerning. One of
our colleagues in the Senate said this:
[Senator Padilla] has a responsibility to his constituents
to show up at work, not to try to make a spectacle of
himself.
Well, that is certainly a legitimate opinion. You can criticize any
of us for engaging in a spectacle. But spectacle is not illegal.
Raising your voice is not a crime in this country. Protesting your
government does not, cannot, and should not result in you being
delivered to the ground by law enforcement and handcuffed.
Another of our colleagues says:
Was he disruptive? [Well,] he got what he wanted.
Once again, the standard here seems to be disruption; that if you are
speaking truth to power, then you are going to be met by violence.
The definition of this country, the fundamental nature of America, is
that protest is not met by violence. Protest is celebrated in this
Nation; that what defines America against the rest of the world,
against the totality of previous human history is that we protect the
right of human beings living in the United States of America to raise
protest--loud protest, sometimes disruptive protest--against their
government. And, frankly, we protect that right equally, whether it is
a U.S. Senator or an ordinary citizen with no formal power.
So we can say today, well, this is really dangerous that a U.S.
Senator got thrown to the ground and handcuffed simply because they
spoke up at a press conference. But it is no more concerning that it is
happening to a U.S. Senator than what is happening to many other
citizens and residents of this country who, right now, are being met
with equal physical force.
We don't expect any different treatment of U.S. Senators than of
ordinary citizens. But many ordinary citizens in Los Angeles, right
now, are being treated with the same kind of force that Alex Padilla
was met with today.
So there is still time for us to come together and say: In this
country, speaking truth to power, even in a disruptive way, is never
rationalization for violence.
But I will tell you, the first couple of statements from my
Republican colleagues are deeply worrying. They misread the fundamental
nature of this country.
If we now live in a world where simple disagreements--vocal
disagreements--where protest with this administration becomes
justification for violence, I don't know how you can define that as
America any longer.
As someone who was sitting in this Chamber--I think at this very same
desk--on January 6, it shouldn't be lost on us that there are forms of
political protests that are protected by this administration--
celebrated, even. And then there are forms of political protests, as
you saw today, that are met with violence.
There are individuals out on the street today in America who, just a
few years ago, were in this building or on the outskirts of this
building beating the hell out of police officers--viciously, savagely
attacking police officers; tasers to the throat; rendering those police
officers unconscious; metal poles being hammered onto the heads of
police officers. And in an exceptional moment, the President of the
United States, in celebration of their violence, pardoned them and put
them back out on the street, sending the unequivocal message that if
you engage in violent protest on behalf of the White House, you get out
of jail free.
Pair that together with the message that is being received by the
American public now on a daily basis, most prominently and visibly
today, that if you engage in peaceful protests--Senator Padilla was
asking a question; he identified himself as a U.S. Senator--of the
administration, you will be met by violence. You carry out violence on
behalf of the White House, you are excused. You lodge normal, protected
protest against this White House, you are thrown to the ground and
handcuffed, even if you are a U.S. Senator, though it should not
matter.
The early reaction here, it should be chilling because once this
becomes normalized, I don't know how you put it back in the bottle.
We shouldn't assume that this democracy survives forever. This is a
revolutionary experiment, 250 years in. It is fragile. This idea that
we govern ourselves, this idea that we respect through rule and force
of law people who disagree with us--0.0001 percent of humans have ever
lived under a system like that in which they decide for themselves the
law, their protests, even against the most powerful people in the
country, is protected by law. That idea is unnatural. It is, in some
ways, almost destined to fall apart.
Yet for 250 years, we have not let it fall apart. We have decided
that our fealty to the idea of free speech, of protected free speech,
even if it rubs up against the ruling elites, the ruling class of the
White House, the most powerful people in the country in an
uncomfortable way, will be protected.
For 250 years, we have together--Republicans and Democrats--decided
that that principle of free speech was more
[[Page S3377]]
important than our political stripes, than loyalty to our party's
leader or our party's ideas.
At some point tonight, a Republican has to come down to this floor.
At some point this weekend, some of our Republican colleagues have to
speak out on behalf of this fundamental American idea, on behalf of the
U.S. Senate, on behalf of our colleague.
We can still fight on tax policy and immigration policy. We can have
big disagreements about the reconciliation bill. It will not harm my
Republican colleagues' ability to render argument on the things that
matter to them.
It is OK for us to agree that what happened to Alex Padilla 2 hours
ago crosses a line. It doesn't compromise my Republican colleagues'
integrity as Republicans to decide that there is still right or wrong;
that not everything is black or white; that two plus two sometimes has
to still equal four.
What happened to Senator Padilla should not have happened. He
identified himself. It is not true that he didn't identify himself.
What happened to him in the room is not justifiable; but, certainly,
what happened to him outside of the room isn't justifiable. Once he was
removed from the room, being thrown to the ground as he is identifying
himself as a Senator, being handcuffed can't be justified.
So we are going to hang around on this floor in hopes that, at some
point, somehow--and I know not all of our Republican colleagues are
still in town--they speak up on behalf of this basic premise, this
basic foundational idea of America: that even when protest rubs you the
wrong way, even when you don't like the form or substance of it, that
we are no longer the country that we love, the country that we teach
our kids about, if we don't find a way to come together to object to
protest being met with this kind of violence.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
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