Politico: Kirsten Gillibrand intensifies effort on sex assault bill
Politico reports:
On Tuesday night, she cornered South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott in the GOP’s private cloakroom. Along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), she also targeted undecided Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who was sitting at his desk near the back of the chamber.
One of Gillibrand’s leading Republican allies is also quietly lobbying his GOP colleagues and expects they can run up the score during the floor vote on the defense authorization bill.
“If it gets a significant bipartisan vote, let’s say it gets like more than 60, and I think there’s a chance it could. I think it’ll be tough to take it out,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said.
But Gillibrand still has some work to do on the Democratic side of the aisle, where she faces opposition from Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and Sen. Claire McCaskill, who have already loaded up the defense bill with about two dozen provisions they say will address the issue, including making it a crime to retaliate against victims who speak out, prohibiting sex offenders from enlisting and expanding legal services and counseling from an Air Force pilot program to the entire military.
