Everything You Need To Know About The Military Sexual Assault Bill That Passed In The Senate
BuzzFeed reports:
The Senate Thursday passed a set of modest reforms to rules governing sexual assault claims in the military, the culmination of a year-long debate that divided both parties, led to unexpected bipartisan alliances, and represented one of the few policy debates in Congress in years.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was unable to break a filibuster of her Military Justice Improvement Act, which would have created an outside system for addressing sexual assault claims in the military, but lawmakers did pass Sen. Claire McCaskill’s more modest, competing plan, which among other things would prevent the “good soldier” defense in assault cases.
Although Gillibrand was defeated, her push for tougher language set off the discourse in the Senate and provided a rare opportunity for a substantive policy debate, a welcome break from the Senate’s normal politically motivated rehashes of Obamacare.
