Political Quotes

“I rise to urge my colleagues to join me in voting for a bipartisan amendment, No. 2294, the Military Justice Improvement Act. It will fix our broken military justice system. I believe our servicemembers deserve a military justice system that is worthy of their sacrifice. That means one that is both professional and fair. I think every one of my colleagues in this Chamber agrees that this is a priority, no matter where you are from and no matter your background. Some of my newer colleagues may be less familiar with this issue. So I am going to tell them what I am talking about. We all deeply revere our servicemembers, which means it is not easy to talk about problems within an institution that we treasure so greatly in this country. The fact is that the military has a problem with sexual assault. It is pervasive, it is destroying lives, and it has been going on for years. Listen to these most disturbing numbers. Since we first introduced this bill 5 years ago, the number of cases that commanders have moved forward has decreased despite an increased number of reports. In fiscal year 2013, 484 cases proceeded to trial, and in fiscal year 2017, only 406 cases proceeded to trial. It is estimated that there were close to 15,000 cases of military sexual assault in 2016. That doesn't even include spouses and civilians in that estimate. It is just an estimate of servicemembers.…”