Political Quotes

“I rise for the seventh time to call for this entire body to have the opportunity to consider and cast their votes for the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act. This commonsense reform would ensure that people in the military who have been subjected to sexual assault or other serious crimes get the justice they deserve. In the 8 years that I spent advocating for this reform, with many other Senators, I have heard some criticism from those who would rather not see change to our military justice system. I wanted to take this time to briefly respond to a few of those criticisms. First, I have heard that the bill will add bureaucracy to the process. The fact is, this bill actually cuts redtape. Instead of needing to find time on a commander's busy schedule for a military prosecutor to brief them on the case, the prosecutor's recommendations, instead, become the prosecutor's decision. Under this law, prosecutors who understand complex military justice concepts like unlawful command influence and evidentiary standards make the decision, rather than a commander whose time is better spent focusing on warfighting than on learning the evidentiary rules. I have to wonder if these critics have actually read the bill, since it specifically requires the services to use existing resources that we have already provided to accomplish this reform. Second, detractors worry that this law will result in fewer prosecutions. The opposite is true.…”