Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to take just a very brief moment and thank the chairman and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee because this is a very significant move that is being proposed by Senators Gillibrand and Grassley and those of us who are cosponsors of this legislation. It is time to act. It is time to act. If we can go back into previous years, I have been one of those nay-sayers. I have said to others that I was very torn about removing this decision from a commander's purview. I was torn. But we have not seen improvement when it comes to the areas of sexual assault and other serious crimes within our Nation's armed services. So it is time to take very bold action. It is time to take bold action. I do share those concerns as so eloquently stated by Senator Gillibrand that we are making a bold proposal that we believe now fit for those who want prevention, like myself, those who want to reform and improve and professionalize those prosecutors within the military system. We can bring that together and move it forward, but that is not going to happen if we see it watered down through the process of the NDAA. I would love to see this bill in its entirety passed. If that can happen through the NDAA, so be it. But as Senator Gillibrand just stated, we have worked on legislation before to see it come to fruition in the Senate through NDAA, but not have it passed and signed into law.…”