Make no mistake, Congress shares the responsibility for preventing sexual assault within the military and assuring victims that their cases will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

This is a problem that has plagued the military for far too long.

It is disturbing to learn that individuals who were entrusted to mold these young men and women took advantage of their positions and sexual harassed and assaulted the very individuals they had the responsibility to develop and train.

If there is not trust, if the people who are serving do not trust the people who are supposed to be leading them, then the entire system breaks down.

The critical thing is to make sure that we do much, much better than we have done now.

At the end of the day, the culture needs to change.

We are all committed to eradicating sexual assault in our Armed Forces, but first, we have to respect the victim's need for urgent and sure justice.

Commanders at every level and at every Service must make eliminating sexual assault and all forms of sexual misconduct from their commands the highest of priorities.

Over the past 5 years, Republicans and Democrats have joined forces to put real reforms in place.

We must ensure that our military training environment is safe and free from misconduct.

It is completely unacceptable that we got to this point, that it wasn't solved before this.

These young men and women have earned the respect of the Nation. They deserve the respect from their leaders and fellow service members.