Political Quotes

“I want to thank Chairman McKeon and Ranking Member Adam Smith for their efforts. They had given to Representative Tsongas and myself the task of doing a bipartisan package to address the issue of sexual assault in the military. We all know and people have spoken on this House floor eloquently of the tragedy of the issue of sexual assault in the military. We have to do something both to change the culture and to change the legislative regime that affects the prosecution and the prevention of sexual assault and the protection of victims. Many times victims report they are revictimized by the system. It is our effort in changing the system so that the perpetrator fears the system, not the victim. There is one other thing that we need to address. Mr. Chairman, many people have taken this House floor and say we need to go further. The Turner amendment is what we need to do to go further. We have put in this bill currently a mandatory minimum, meaning if you commit a sexual assault, you are subject to a statutory minimum. That minimum in this bill, unfortunately, is only that you're out of the military. We want to increase that to include 2 years of confinement. Mr. Chairman, 22 States have mandatory minimums that include confinement, incarceration. Of those 22 States, we took the minimum of those so that we're not going higher than any State. But here is the issue, Mr.…”