Barbara Boxer: “I understand Senator Lee is on his way to the floor. I will yield to him when he arrives. I came to the floor today to…”

“I understand Senator Lee is on his way to the floor. I will yield to him when he arrives. I came to the floor today to say what a good debate we are having. Let us be clear, there is only one amendment that puts in place a fundamental change; that is the Gillibrand amendment. We have had 20 years of promises that this problem would be fixed. I have a chart I will bring out later to show that every Secretary of Defense for 20 years, Republican and Democratic, has said exactly what Senator Ayotte has said: Oh, we are going to fix this, and it is going to be fine. We are picking up steam in our support. I wish to state the reason we are picking up steam. It is because, with all due respect, every single victims' organization that I know of supports the Gillibrand amendment. When victims say to me the reason I don't report is because I don't want to take it to my commander, I think we ought to listen. With all due respect, I love the Senators on the other side and I have great respect for the people in the military, but they are not the victims. The victims are standing behind the Gillibrand amendment. The committee that advises the Pentagon on the treatment of women in the military is called DACOWITS. This committee came out overwhelmingly in favor of the Gillibrand amendment. My colleagues are saying don't make this fundamental change.…”