Chris Coons: “I come to the floor today to speak on the tragedy, on the ongoing crisis of sexual assault in our Armed Forces and what…”

“I come to the floor today to speak on the tragedy, on the ongoing crisis of sexual assault in our Armed Forces and what I believe we must do. There are several options before us, each of which has been the subject of lengthy and passionate debate, a debate that I think is healthy, and needed, and welcome here in this Chamber. I commend my many colleagues--Chairman Levin and Senator Inhofe, Senator McCaskill and Senator Ayotte--for the very real progress, the very significant steps taken both in the base bill, the NDAA, and in the amendments to be offered by Senators McCaskill and Ayotte, serious and important steps forward to protect victims, to ensure that commanders are held accountable and to criminalize retaliation. A wide range of important and significant reforms that will make real progress towards addressing the ongoing decades-old scourge of sexual assault in the United States military. As was said recently on the floor by another of my colleagues, this disagreement today is over one of more than a dozen important and needed reforms. But in the end, we have to decide. I believe the measure offered by Senator Gillibrand of New York, of which I am a cosponsor, is the right additional path forward. Because at the end, here is the bottom line: Sexual assault has been a disease, a corrosive and widespread and horribly negative influence on our military that has simply not been effectively treated.…”