Political Quotes

“Madam President, about an hour ago I was on the telephone with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. It was a somber conversation. We were talking about the most recent disclosure yesterday of sexual assault in the military. The Secretary said he was beside himself with the knowledge that this continues and that he was going to do something about it. I trust that he will. Last night we learned of the latest and most reprehensible incident. The Army is investigating a sexual assault prevention and response coordinator at Fort Hood, TX, for being engaged in abusive sexual contact and other abusive crimes. Secretary Hagel has directed rescreening and retraining of all sexual assault prevention coordinators and military recruiters. I know he is upset about this; I could hear it in his voice. I join him in that response. He understands this is a pervasive crisis that threatens the moral underpinnings of our military. At risk are core values of trust, discipline, and respect that every one of our servicemembers expects and deserves to protect each other and ultimately to protect America. Next Wednesday the Army will appear before my Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. We will be asking some hard questions: What has gone wrong? Why are so many men and women charged with stopping sexual assault being found guilty of it themselves? This is a serious issue. According to the Pentagon survey, there were 26,000 sexual assaults in the U.S. military last year.…”