[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 163 (Friday, October 3, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6929-S6930]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF CHOOSE RESPECT DAY

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I am here on the floor today to ask 
unanimous consent to pass a very important resolution that I try to 
move forward every year. It is my Choose Respect Day resolution.
  I want to thank Senator Schiff, my lead cosponsor on the other side 
of the aisle. And it is to kick off also Domestic Violence Awareness 
Month.
  As a former AG like myself, this is really important to me and my 
State. I come down on the floor a lot to brag about the great State of 
Alaska in so many different areas, but this is one area where I don't 
like to brag about Alaska because there is not much to brag about. We 
have some of the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual assault 
than anyplace in the country--really bad.

[[Page S6930]]

  So when I was attorney general a number of years ago, the Governor 
and I launched this big initiative called the Choose Respect 
Initiative. We changed the laws. We made perpetrators really pay if 
they were going to commit these heinous crimes in Alaska.
  We got funding for lawyers and resources. We got different services, 
and we had ads all over TV in Alaska about choosing respect--real 
Alaska men choose respect; they don't commit these heinous acts; they 
don't hit their girlfriend; they don't do any of that kind of horrible 
stuff.
  And it started to work in my State, to change the culture, which 
wasn't a good culture in Alaska. We are still doing that. So when I 
came to the Senate, I really wanted to continue this work. It is really 
important work--it has been bipartisan--to try to change the culture in 
our country.
  We have very, very high rates--too high rates--of domestic violence 
and sexual assault in many places in America. We should all be focused 
on making sure the next generation of young men don't do that.
  So one of the ways in which we have done that is my POWER Act, which 
has been to get pro bono legal services for domestic violence survivors 
and victims. This is an innovative idea that we started in Alaska and 
brought here to the Senate.
  The POWER Act now has had over 61,000 attorneys across America 
provide pro bono legal assistance to survivors--61,000. That was from a 
bill here we had on the Senate floor. These are the kind of things we 
can do in the Senate, in the Congress, to address this very significant 
challenge in my State and across the country.
  So this resolution builds on what we are doing across the board on 
many of the different Choose Respect initiatives that I have brought to 
the Congress in a bipartisan way over the years. It calls upon all of 
us to mark Choose Respect Day by teaching our youth about healthy 
relationships, supporting survivors, honoring those we have lost, and 
recommitting ourselves to the fundamental truth that every person 
deserves to live in freedom from violence and fear.
  The call to choose respect is simple but powerful: If we live by it 
not just on October 1, as the resolution calls for, we can break the 
cycle of abuse, strengthen families, and build a safer, more respectful 
country.
  I think, at this point right now in our Nation's history, we could 
all use that. I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this 
resolution. Together, let's honor survivors, remember victims, and 
choose respect in all we do.
  Madam President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding 
rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
consideration of S. Res. 431, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 431) supporting the goals and 
     objectives of Choose Respect Day.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon table with no intervening action or 
debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 431) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

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