Jackie Speier

These repeated failures, which occurred at military medical treatment facilities all around the world, indicate systemic problems within the military healthcare system.

My primary concern is to make sure that the failures you experienced in the military medical health system do not happen to other service members.

But even if the Feres doctrine is changed, we know it will not make you or the other victims of military medical malpractice whole.

Our service members, who sacrifice so much, deserve the best medical care that we can provide, and we, as an institution, let you down.

When our service members suffer from medical malpractice, when doctors fail to perform or woefully misread tests, when nurses botch routine procedures, when clinicians ignore and disregard pain, service members deserve their day in court.

I want to take this moment to thank you in particular. Because of the malpractice you suffered, your time is numbered in days and weeks, not years and decades.

Feres is the product of judicial activism and Congress' silence.

This has got to be fixed.

This is unjust to our service members and their families.

I thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee for yielding. Mr. Chairman, today, I stand here in proud support of the bipartisan Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, which includes my bill, the Closing the Law Enforcement…

What objectives did it fulfill? What are the benefits of having prosecutors supervised by other prosecutors and not commanders?

I support that proposal.

I just think believing and trusting in the system would have just been a wholly more adequate response.

It goes down to the fact that commanders are people. We are fallible. We are humans.

The inherent bias of command is the problem.

There is nothing a JAG can do to force him to do it.

Do you agree that special victim's counsel should not serve in billets that challenge their duty to their client?

I support this proposal.

I think it is dismissive to call them staff officers--to get the advice of JAGs when to do this.

Do you believe recent expansions of the concept of apparent unlawful command influence hampers commanders and compromises their ability to set the necessary cultures within their units? How would your recommend changing the definition of…

Are you aware of penetrative offenses under your jurisdictions being sent to special and summary courts martial while statute requires them to be tried at general courts martial? What is the cause of these failures to comply with the law…

The process was worse than the rape

I want to thank you for the courage that you have shown.

One area I am concerned with regarding the SVC program is the ability of the special victims lawyer to operate independent of any command, similar to defense counsel.

Are the recent decisions from CAAF jeopardizing convictions?