Shaheen Statement on Feinstein Bill to Establish Protocol for Reporting Abuse to Law Enforcement

U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) issued the following statement in response to the House of Representatives passing Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) legislation that requires amateur athletic associations, including USA Gymnastics, to report abuse to authorities. The bill already passed the Senate last year, so it will now head to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

“Senator Feinstein’s legislation is desperately needed to ensure serial predators like Larry Nassar are immediately stopped, prosecuted and made to answer for their crimes,” said Shaheen. “Additionally, we need to know more about how these violations were allowed to transpire unabated. That’s why I’ve called for an independent and comprehensive investigation of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and USA Gymnastics so we can directly confront institutional accountability and hold those who were in positions of power responsible. The USOC and USA Gymnastics owe the survivors answers, and Congress must leave no stone unturned to guarantee the safety of American athletes.”

Senators Shaheen and Ernst (R-IA) are calling on Senate Leadership to establish a select committee to investigate the USOC and USA Gymnastics regarding how team doctor Larry Nassar was given unsupervised access to female gymnasts, which allowed him to sexually abuse them over decades. The Senators will soon introduce a bipartisan resolution to establish the select committee, and will specifically request that the committee have at least fifty percent female representation and that it be established before the Winter Games begin in PyeongChang on February 9th.