Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1520

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Madam President, I rise to once again call for this entire body to have the opportunity to consider the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act, which would ensure people in the military who have been subjected to sexual assault and other serious crimes get the justice they deserve.

I rise on behalf of the supporters of this bill, including a bipartisan, filibuster-proof group of 65 Senators, major veterans service organizations, and the veterans they represent. Every day we delay a vote on this bill is another day that their voices are being silenced.

Our legislation makes the commonsense reform that our veterans and our servicemembers have asked for. It takes a decision on whether to prosecute serious crimes out of the chain of command and moves it to independent, trained, military prosecutors. This will create a system that is free of bias and capable of fairly trying these complex crimes.

This legislation, as I mentioned, is supported by the Nation's major veterans service organizations. These organizations recognize that this reform would build a military justice system worthy of the service of our members--a system that delivers justice, consequences, and convictions.

This bill is supported by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Their CEO, Jeremy Butler said:

The status quo with our military chain of command's response to military sexual assault is not working and this continuing threat to our military requires this commonsense solution to protect our servicemembers.

It is supported by the American Legion, which recognizes that this legislation will ``improv[e] the system by which the Department of Defense investigates and prosecutes reported cases of military sexual trauma so that it is on par with the civilian system.''

It is supported by Protect Our Defenders. Retired Col. Don Christensen, the president of Protect Our Defenders said:

Every year, generals come before Congress and tell Congress that sexual assault is a cancer in the force. This is a readiness issue. This is a force protection issue. This is an issue that drives out thousands of good men and women every year who want to serve. This [reform] will finally see the justice that our members deserve and the prevention they deserve.

It is supported by the Vietnam Veterans of America. In a letter of support for this legislation, national president John Rowan wrote:

After decades of hearing that the military will not tolerate military sexual assaults and that it has zero tolerance of such, the numbers continue to climb.

Vietnam Veterans of America believes it is time to make real change to the process if real action is to be taken in its attention to the victims and the violence. Fear of reporting the crime of sexual assault is a barrier in addressing the justice these victims deserve. Their legal counsel and defense counsel should be no less than a civilian receives in our court system.

This bill is supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which accounts for more than 1.5 million veterans as members. It is supported by Common Defense. It is supported by SWAN, the Service Women's Action Network. It is supported by the Veterans Recovery Project. It is supported by the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

These are veterans. These are our constituents, our fellow Americans, and these are people who have put their lives on the line for this country and seen firsthand the way the current military justice system fails our servicemembers. They know better than anyone else what change needs to be made, and they are asking to pass this bill.

Do not silence their voices. Let this vote come to the floor.

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Mrs. GILLIBRAND. 1520 and the Senate proceed to its consideration; that there be 2 hours of debate equally divided in the usual form; and that upon the use or yielding back of the time, the Senate vote on the bill with no intervening action or debate.
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