{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.cantwell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-about-maria?ContentRecord_id=aa99d523-b8d5-4794-906c-b42bd5cc4acd", "Senate women: We're 'fed up' with military sexual assault", "2013-11-19", "2013", "2013-11", "Democrat", "House", "WA", "Maria Cantwell", "C000127", "www.cantwell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "01.22.14\n    \t\t\t Senate women: We're 'fed up' with military sexual assault \n    \t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n    \t\t\tFemale senators stood united on the Senate floor Tuesday against military sexual assault, but how to best address the issue is still being debated.\r\nThe Senate is now considering the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) , which authorizes more than $600 billion in defense spending for the Pentagon.\r\nSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said military sexual assault was a top issue he wanted to debate and have amendments on but Republicans blocked him from bringing up an amendment from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).\r\n\u201cI\u2019m pretty fed up,\u201d said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), dean of the women\u2019s caucus. \u201cNo woman should be a victim of rape by a fellow soldier.\u201d[WATCH VIDEO]\r\nSome protections for victims of sexual assault were included during committee markup of NDAA, such as providing a lawyer for victims and criminalizing retaliation against victims who report assaults. But Gillibrand and most of the other female senators have said the underlying bill doesn\u2019t go far enough.\r\nGillibrand\u2019s amendment would take military sexual assault cases outside the chain of command. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and most Republicans on the committee oppose Gillibrand\u2019s amendment.\r\nGillibrand and her supporters argue that taking cases outside the chain of command is needed because victims do not report sexual assault crimes out of fears that commanders won\u2019t prosecute the cases and they will face retaliation.\r\nOpponents of her bill say that the decision to prosecute cases must remain in the chain of command so that commanders are held accountable for their command climate on sexual assault, and so they retain the ability to punish perpetrators.\r\nIf Gillibrand\u2019s amendment is held to a 60-vote threshold it won\u2019t pass. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has presented an alternative that keeps sexual assault cases within the chain of command but adds protections for those who report crimes.\r\n\"It is very important that we not lose sight that this isn\u2019t about a bumper sticker,\" McCaskill said. \"This is about doing the very best job we can on the policy so we can protect victims, prosecute offenders and get them the hell out of our military.\"\u00a0\r\nMikulski said there were 26,000 reasons why Senate women were speaking out on the floor Tuesday. Earlier this year, the Pentagon estimated that there were 26,000 sexual assaults in the military last year.\r\nSens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Kelley Ayotte (R-N.H.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), McCaskill, Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Mikulski on the Senate floor.\r\n\u201cThere is one thing we can all agree on and that\u2019s protecting the victims from further abuse,\u201d Cantwell said. \u201cWe may differ on how best to achieve that goal, but we\u2019re all here to say one thing: Enough is enough.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.cantwell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-about-maria?ContentRecord_id=aa99d523-b8d5-4794-906c-b42bd5cc4acd"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.34424795396626, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}