Senate votes set on sex assault bills
Politico reports:
The Senate will hold two long-awaited votes Thursday on military sexual assaults, ending a chapter in the yearlong debate that has divided both parties while also creating some unusual bipartisan alliances.
Back-to-back votes are scheduled to begin around 2 p.m. on the bills from Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).
Both proposals would overhaul the military’s policies for handling sexual assaults but in dramatically different ways.
Gillibrand, who counts the public support of 55 senators so far on legislation to remove the military chain of command from prosecution decisions, made a last dash for votes Wednesday by lobbying colleagues on the floor and passing out a handout backing her position.
