Amy Klobuchar: “I thank Senator Levin and Senator McCain for their leadership, including their leadership on this very issue last year…”

“I thank Senator Levin and Senator McCain for their leadership, including their leadership on this very issue last year when the Defense Authorization Act was on the floor. Last year we made some improvements. Here is the issue. According to the Veterans Affairs Administration, a full one in five female veterans at VA facilities across the country says she has had an issue with sexual assault or harassment. In 2010 the Department of Defense cited more than 3,000 reports in the military. We know that the vast majority of our soldiers are law- abiding and would not engage in this kind of behavior, but this is clearly an issue, and we have seen an increase. I would like to again take the time to recognize Senator Levin and Senator McCain, who last year supported the inclusion of the amendment that I introduced to preserve records of military sexual assault in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. Until that time, it was really a patchwork of rules for each branch of the military as far as how long those records would be preserved. Thanks to the support of every woman Senator, we were able to get this changed, and so now these records are preserved. But there are still some additional changes that can be made. Those are the amendments that I submitted. There is a records retention amendment--and I am working with the chairman and ranking member on this issue--that once again tackles this issue.…”