Gillibrand Calls on Obama to Back Military Sexual-Assault Bill
Bloomberg Businessweek reports:
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she will keep pressuring President Barack Obama to support her proposal to curb sexual assault in the military by taking away commanders’ ability to prosecute such cases.
“The audience I was most disappointed that we didn’t win over was the president,” Gillibrand, a Democrat, said at a lunch in Washington today hosted by Bloomberg View. “He can do this all by himself.”
Her plan would turn sexual assault cases over to independent prosecutors outside the alleged victim’s military chain of command. The Senate’s March 6 vote that blocked the bill was “crushing,” Gillibrand said. The 55-45 vote was five short of the 60 needed to advance the legislation.
