Military Sexual Assault

Floor Speech

Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, the men and women who serve our country every day have to worry about the fate of losing a limb or losing their life facing the enemy, but they shouldn't have to worry about the insidious sexual assaults from their very own, nor should they have to live in the shadows of fear and intimidation and retaliation by their abuser.

According to our Department of Defense, 26,000 servicemen and servicewomen who serve our country were sexually assaulted in the military in 2012. That's more than 70 servicewomen and servicemen sexually assaulted every single day in our military. That's a scary statistic.

But what's even scarier is, due to a culture heavy on retaliation and light on prosecution, only 3,374 of those cases were even reported. This is a pervasive crisis that threatens the moral underpinnings of our military. We must take urgent action now.

I actually support the underlying changes of the defense bill that we're going to be voting on this week.

Congress should create a transparent and fair system that ensures the safety of our men and women in the armed services who have sacrificed enough.

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