{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/press-releases/statement-from-senator-mazie-k-hirono-on-senator-al-franken", "Statement from Senator Mazie K. Hirono on Senator Al Franken", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Mazie Hirono", "H001042", "www.hirono.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Statement from Senator Mazie K. Hirono on Senator Al Franken\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, December 6, 2017\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement:\r\n\u201cToday, I am calling on my colleague Al Franken to step aside. I\u2019ve struggled with this decision because he\u2019s been a good Senator and I consider him a friend. But that cannot excuse his behavior and his mistreatment of women.\r\n\u201cTIME Magazine, by naming \u2018The Silence Breakers\u2019 as their \u2018Person of the Year,\u2019 is recognizing what women have always known: there are men among us who use their positions of power and influence to manipulate, harass, and assault women. What is new here is the women.\u00a0 We are, all of us, speaking out, naming names and demanding that the harassers take responsibility for their behavior.\r\n\u201cI am proud of each of the women who has come forward, and heartened by the changing climate that has received their stories with acceptance and compassion.\r\n\u201cMy hope is that this moment for a cultural change will result in women no longer being viewed as objects or toys, but recognized for their abilities and achievements. As regular human beings. Women have endured this behavior, which for too long has been ignored and tolerated. But no longer.\r\n\u201cWe can only create a culture where women are respected as equals if we all step forward and be part of the change by holding everyone, especially our leaders, accountable.\u201d\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/press-releases/statement-from-senator-mazie-k-hirono-on-senator-al-franken"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6116800252348185, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}