Political Quotes

“I wish to thank Chairman Levin for his extraordinary leadership on combating sexual assault in the military. He has led a process over the last year to ensure that our base bill has a set of historic reforms that make a huge difference in how cases that are actually reported are handled. In fact, the reforms that Chairman Levin has put forward and that our colleagues are continuing to perfect do make the handling of the cases that are reported better. They make sure every victim who reports has a victim's advocate to help him or her steer through the process. They also make sure that if that victim is so lucky enough to get that conviction, that it cannot be overturned by a commander on a second-level review. They also make sure we have better recordkeeping. They make sure the rules of evidence are better. They make sure victims are protected throughout the process. Most important, we as a committee have put forward in the bill a law that makes sure retaliation is now a crime. Those reforms help the victims who are strong enough and able enough and have a command climate that is strong enough to report their cases. But one thing the chairman said that is not true: Commanders do not need this legal right to be able to set the command climate. In fact, most commanders will never have this legal right. Just look at the Army rankings. Second lieutenants, they will command 16 to 44 soldiers. They do not have convening authority.…”