Political Quotes

“I want to thank my senior Senator from Iowa for being the lead Republican on this bill, and I am rising today as well to support my colleague in her request today for consideration of the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act. Our service men and women--all of them--are volunteers. They represent some of the best our Nation has to offer. They choose to serve. They swear to protect against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to defend the Constitution. In this day and age, they face many risks, but they should not face the risk of sexual assault from within their own ranks. For years, the military has struggled to reduce the number of sexual assaults within the ranks. Yet we have seen little progress in defeating this scourge. The stories from survivors are heartbreaking: servicemembers who are attacked by their own teammates; servicemembers whose lives are turned upside down; servicemembers who are abandoned by their chain of command; servicemembers who receive no justice; and servicemembers who are left with the scars, often physical but always psychological, of a terrible experience. I know these stories not just from the retelling by survivors of sexual assault but from being a survivor of sexual assault myself. It is time we take new action to stop these attacks, to bring justice for the victims and to prevent these actions going forward.…”