{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=f3a35dd7-8116-4256-bf59-0283583fc14d", "Murkowski: \u201cWords  Aren\u2019t Solving the Problem\u201d of Military Sexual Assault", "2013-11-06", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "11.06.13\n\t\t\t Murkowski: \u201cWords  Aren\u2019t Solving the Problem\u201d of Military Sexual Assault  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Senator Joins Major Bipartisan Push to Pass Military Justice Improvement Act\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Senator Lisa Murkowski today joined a bipartisan coalition of her colleagues to kick off a final two week push to create an independent, objective and non-biased military justice system \u2013 through the Military Justice Improvement Act \u2013 as the Senate is expected to debate the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before Thanksgiving.\r\nThe legislation that Murkowski co-sponsored in May would eliminate many obstacles that numerous victims of military sexual assault have described in deciding whether to report the crimes committed against them due to the bias and inherent conflicts of interest posed by the military chain of command's current sole decision-making power.\u00a0\r\nAt a press conference earlier today, Murkowski was joined by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rand Paul (R-KY), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) discussing how the problem has been acknowledged publicly by the Pentagon brass for decades, but no hard solutions have been enacted or created that provide a better environment for victims \u2013 this bill would take the decision out of the hands of the Commanding Officer and allow an independent Judge Advocate General to determine whether a court case should proceed.\r\n\u00a0\r\n\r\n(Senator Murkowski cites need for Military Justice Improvement Act \u2013 Click image to view)\r\n\u00a0\r\nIn discussing the acknowledgements of military officials on the topic, Murkowski said:\r\n\u201cThere is a notion that somehow or other our military has addressed this issue because they are saying the right words.\u00a0 Because they have said there is a \u2018Commitment to Zero Tolerance\u2019 here.\u00a0 I have heard it and all my colleagues have heard it from every General who has chosen to visit in the last six months.\u00a0\r\n\u201cThey say \u2018We\u2019ve had our eyes opened wide.\u2019\u00a0 Well, they\u2019ve had those wide eyes for twenty years now.\u00a0 Instead of seeing a change in the attitude, a change in the direction, so we don\u2019t see survivors like we see here writing letters saying \u2018Please can\u2019t you do something to affect real change.\u2019\r\n\u201cThe words aren\u2019t solving the problem\u00a0\r\n\u201cIn many of the letters that have been received, they say things like \u2018This has been a persistent problem.\u2019\u00a0 Brigadier General Sutton describes it as a \u2018sorrowful history of inattention and ineptitude,\u2019 an \u2018inadequate response to sexual assault\u2019 or \u2018DOD\u2019s time to solve the problem on its own has expired.\u2019\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s a recognition we\u2019re not talking about something current.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about a historic problem, a historic tragedy that needs to be rectified and corrected.\u00a0 This bill is a shake-up.\u00a0 Senator Gillibrand, thank you for working so aggressively to shake it up because the words have not helped the survivors.\u201d\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n    \n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n     \n\t\n \n\t\n    \n    \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t  \n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 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.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=f3a35dd7-8116-4256-bf59-0283583fc14d"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3628313317894936, "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"}