Political Quotes

“We have a significant problem of sexual assaults in the military, and this bill addresses many of the issues that we know legislatively will help both change the culture and change the environment in the military. Recent surveys indicate that over 28,000 people have indicated that they have been sexually assaulted in the military, but slightly fewer than 3,000 are willing to come forward and actually ask that their perpetrators be prosecuted. When you look at that number further, the survey indicates that 62 percent of those who came forward indicated that they felt they were persecuted in the workplace for having done so. Many victims of sexual assault in the military report that they have been re-victimized, that they, in fact, fear the system, and that there is a sense that if one reports a sexual assault that it will negatively impact one's career and perhaps even put one at risk for further violence. What we have tried to do in this bill on a bipartisan basis, in working with Niki Tsongas--my cochair of the Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus--and in working with Chairman McKeon and Ranking Member Smith, is to look at ways in which the commander's role can be restricted and to require that the decisionmaking on sexual assaults be pushed up the chain of command, and to instill upon the entire system an evaluation process so that those who are making decisions are held accountable for those decisions.…”