Sunday, September 14, 2014
National Football League (NFL) commissioner Roger Goodell received a letter from sixteen female United States Senators on Thursday calling for the NFL to adopt a zero tolerance policy on domestic violence.
The senators criticized the NFL for their new domestic violence policy enacted in August. The new policy says a player will receive a six game suspension for their first offense.
A video of Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice assaulting the woman who has since married him was recently released by website TMZ. The assault took place in a elevator at an Atlantic City, New Jersey casino. Rice was initially given a two game suspension; later, following the video release, the Ravens terminated Rice’s contract and the NFL indefinitely suspended him.
The bipartisan group of senators said, “If you violently assault a woman, you shouldn’t get a second chance to play in the NFL.”
The league stated they had initiated an independent investigation by former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller into the Rice incident.
The cross-party signatories were, from the Democratic Party, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, of California, Debbie Stabenow, Michigan; Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota; Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Washington; Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire; Kirsten Gillibrand, New York; Barbara Mikulski, Maryland; Mazie Hirono, Hawaii; Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota; Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts; Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin; Kay Hagan, North Carolina; and, from the Republican Party, Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, and Susan Collins of Maine.