a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. a couple months ago, i felt that we had entered an important moment in the history of this country. we were finally beginning to listen to women about the i was

in which men's actions affect them. the moment was long overdue. i was excited for that >> but to make life better all across the country for with men and every part of our society. then the conversation turned to me and will last few weeks a number of women have come forward to you talk about my actions shocked. i was upset. but in responding to their claims i wanted to be respectful a of the conversatione because all women deserve to be heard and the experiences taken

seriously. i think that was the great thing to do i also think it gave some people a false impression that i was admitting to doing things that in fact, i have not done. some of the allegations against me are simply not true. others i remember very differently. i say that at thell outset the right venue for the allegations to be heard and i was prepared to cooperate fully but the important part of the conversation over the last few months has been about how men abuse power and privilege to hurt women.

to have my power to be a champion of women and that i have heard a reputation the women i work alongside every day there is a very different picture of me painted over the last few weeks but i know who i really am. serving in the united states senate has been a great honor of my life and i know in my heart that nothing i have done as a senator, nothing has brought dishonor to this institution and i am confident the ethics committee would agree. nevertheless today i am announcing that in the comingwe weeks i will be resigning as the member of the united states senate.

i of all people am aware that there is some irony and the fact that i am leaving while a man who has pride on tape with his sexual history assaults it's in the oval office and a man who is reputed the preyed on young girls campaigns for theh senate with the full support of his party. but this decision is not about me. it is about the people handed is clear i cannot pursue that process it remained the effective senator for that. and let me be clear i'm a be resigning my seat i am not giving up my voice. and as a citizen but

minnesota and spouses surveys senator who can focus with all her energy on addressing the challenges there is a big part of me that will always regret having to walk away from this job with so much work left behind. >> and the people who have helped me do that. with the dedicated and funny and selfless, brilliant young men and women on my staff and to contribute to the country and i hope as disappointed as they may

feel today everybody that has worked for me knows how much i know and -- and respect that. i have faith and my colleagues especially my a senior senator teeeighteen and could not do that without her faith and wisdom. i have hope members could have the political courage necessaryns to keep asking the tough questions, hold this administration accountable and stand up for the truth. i have faith in the activist angelou kept organizing the kids facing bullying and seniors worry about the price of prescription drugs

those said have beenoo overlooked for far too long. working people taking it on the chin for a generation everyone in the middle class and aspiring. i have faith in the prov legacy of the advocacy that i have the privilege to be a part of. i have probably repeated these words ted thousand times over the years the future belongs to those that our passionate and work hard. it is still true in it will always be true. and most of all i have faith in minnesota and its candidate part of this job is going around listening to what people in washington

bellmore often than not i m blown awayuc by how much minnesota has to offer the entire country and the entire world. those to represent their brilliant and hard-working to inherit thege challenge i have enjoyed the last eight and a half years. to be as good as the people that you serve. but i have a very lucky man. i have a beautiful healthy family that i loved and that los we very much. i will be just fine. i would like to end with one last thing.

i did not grow up wanting to be a politician. i came to this relatively late in life. i had to learn a lot on the fly it was not easy and it wasn't always fun. and not just today. this is a hard thing to do with your life with long hours, late nights, hard lessons, and there is no guarantee that all the work and sacrifice will ever pay off. i won my first election by 312 close and it could have easily:the other way. but even when u.n. park -- progress is far from inevitable. spending his whole life working for mental health parity and it did not pass

until six years after he died. to imagine to ever get involved in politics going to the first protest march and then to put the names on the ballot for the first time. it can be such a rush to look around our room of people ready to be alongside you and feel the energy imagine that things are possible. you will, experience setbacks and defeats and disappointments and there

are days if you wonder it is worth it. what i want you to know is even today, on the worst day of my politicale, life, i feel it has all been worth it. politics is about the improvement of people's lives. i know the work i have been able to do has improved people's lives. i would do what all over again in aea heartbeat. full a decade now every time i getnk tired or discouraged or frustrated i think about the people i do this for and get me back up on my feet. ine know the same will be true for everyone who decides to pursue politics that is

about improving people's lives. and i hope you know i will be fighting alongside you every step of the way. with that, mr. president, i yield theto floor. >> to address my colleagues in this chamber the optimism of the young student here of a like to offer my colleagues of observations from my unique circumstances. we were raised differently coming to serve in the deliberative body with that one reality that transcends

and in this chamber it has been shaped from every state in the union with the institution as great challenges but the best spirit of like to put a page ono history with the current political climate there is a space known as the marble room it has so many breathtaking historic sites and a story worth telling as part of the expansion of the senate chambers it began as a public gathering place with politicians but for

over 60 years with american citizen but the the to take on new equally important purpose. and the smoke-filled rooms to become the place and some would eat lunch or read the newspapers that arose about politics. to dave the room is almost always empty symbolizing today'snd politics is like the

cause of the gridlock that dominates the chamber. man to mr. president'' was once a an incubator for bipartisanship with the business of the american people.he with follow the traditions of the hallowed body but mr. president what that means about principle and pragmatism.as and it has topped me and to spend time in the marble room with the issues that we

face today is not broken it does not require that our forefathers have done itri before right across the hall. the early years in alabama outside of birmingham. and with the high quality stone. and then was widely recognized for this texture and here in the nation's capitall from the halls of the supreme court bin to create the best of abraham lincoln like the places that are in fused in history to

time of thet of future. i was raised by a family that had a deep and abiding preference for history. and the west point graduate was killed in service in world war ii. and then to understand us sacrifice looking in the of the other side is to remember that sacrifice. they understood and that greatest generation grew strong.

and volunteer troop leaders to the scouts and boy scouts createce the environment of selfless service. by the age of 39 was unable scout in representative government as they tell every young person that comes to see me that played a big difference in my life we all feel that why i wonder maybe accomplishing a little more inhi congress and then in the civics class our trip to washington as an undergraduate student at tulane to be surprised i

played basketball in college.e but in between practice led to the forms when it as part of the zero watergate scandal mr. and though the constitution was never tested like before with the institution to issue a the interchange and the institutiinstituti ons our tested. and then i begin toof understand the tremendous power of the rule of law. to protect the constitution of the united states. and then allowing me to go to law school to know the

in's and outs of the system. >> so many of our colleagues know that it is well-traveled was forced to travel with the dedicated public servants. in those aged ago to the department of justice so a judge sessions had to pay for my p bill. he continues to pay a foreword to this day as the attorney general of the united states.

in some ofbb that temperament rubbed off on him to write yourci friend senator shall be. >> and then they'd lung negative with former congressman shall be. and then w to become a legendary legislator. sharing many days in the field and many more stories shared in the halls of the capital following in their footsteps is the treasurer. but then submit that said an example of just sessions and

with the pragmatism and principle elected attorney general. but standing for the deeply held principles in the six years thinking this could not be further from the truth. and the capacity required k balance. to the people of alabama to follow them wherever they lead. and then to take every opportunity to defend the

constitution. and that is the oath that we take. to protect farmers and ranchers to federally regulated the ecosystems. and with the executive amnesty through the united states supreme court. so mr. president and a half to give my commitment but at the same time even when my own party goes astray. but over my six years i assembled a team ofon prosecutors that had a common goal.

including a county sheriff with the first successful prosecution of o its kind in decades. the republican speaker of theam house with his removal from office but as you might imagine we don't make any friends. but to recognize by the national association 2% have the opportunity for those that are focusing in their states. it has worked like this but the reappraised to go higher in politics. and with those decimated communities in ecosystems a mall -- along the gulf

coast. as coordinating council with the historic litigation. with the multibillion-dollar settlement so with that since this is finding common groundat with the environmental advocates saw the victims from the last wailes bill waited many years for a settlement we could deliver on the kidneys -- coastal community. and with the people's belief those representatives our remaining true to their own the entire system but i

remember the feeling and reflecting on the first that it contained many in plants in the heart were so many others have goney before exactly what the lord's purpose was in that moment and in the face was significasignifica nt challenges with an economic crisis will be surprised by the issues but to be discouraged by the emptiness but those policy challenges that we face with every single year with questions

of war or conflict overseas from the tectonic shift but as a lifelong student of history i have been assured that have been addressed on this very floor. the post civil war senate with the feeling and reunification in this very chamber to put politics aside to defeat the laws of fascism with a new twentieth century world order. long overdue support for civil rights this struggle is held the gun -- vividly but in the early '60s birmingham alabama was segregated. in 1971 i was taken to court with three young black

parents teammate's hand classmates and friends after the championship. so to lose the cost -- the traditions of be the challenge on with the will of the american people. so as a watch with the rest of the country it was on this floor to deliver justice after watergate. with the council of the role that he had as a senator as well. we'll adjust to fall flat end the caseit of this monumental history. and chaos can change the

senate was designed to ensure free and to put the issues of today into perspective relying on the true challenge of our generation. with the more serious threat he was designed to accommodate conflict with this agreement the senate was not designed however that which dominates today's proceedings as they hunker down in the private rooms there are 100 seats in this chamber each contested and harder and. we're less time we spent in the same room instead of

opportunities. would when we buy opportunities and in pursuit of that goal but then that is a dirty words and some understand that to say a better than i could. and they're only half a dozen eggs left after buying a dozen something does not add up.

>> and after rolf to be designed from this institution at the heart of the system of checks and balances and certainly no one partisan faction and to allow the nation so with thomas jefferson in federalism the very structure of the body of 1787 dead is the goal and of proportional representation. and that is depicted outside the senate chamber.

>> will always win. and don april 23rd 1910 because teddy roosevelt that has a package bears repeating. not only the strong man stumbles.

but that which comes short again evident with a shortcoming. and with a worthy cause. with meter victory victory or defeat. i am comestibles worthy cause weekend showing i'm

indebted to so many were held to meet from today in the chamber but from my children end grandchildren to be assured every day by a love and support and to to serve her troubling t times there is a future ahead of like to thank the staff and the senate for those then the, cloakrooms for those to preserve them protect and i

have those friends of part of a service give me great hope of and for those under years before me but in my time in the senate finally the people of my state with millions of hard-working people into work on their behalf and here in washington. but with the bedrock of my home town with a pragmatic

negotiations this has and after a -- opportunity with a balance between principle and pragmatism this is what one of west but the faces balance of tradition and what is next to those that have paved the way with the

compromise of this body with those critics that are in those that could have been doing better in those that will take those words to heart i urge them to return and with that mr. president i yield the floor

. >> content is king and distribution is queen if you think about that the way i like to think about isis is that in the content or . >> everybody can get together or joining together with others that have done with the social me and it isn't really new. so think about that with the smoke signals with the party line or the telephone line

of course, everything is amplified of how far you reach . >> this is a common trait and to draw that conclusion because free press criticizes them.

and that had given me such a perspective and as we speak further it means so very much of the indignities that are enshrined in the constitution.