Gillibrand: Sexual assaults and American betrayal
In an op-ed for the New York Daily News, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) writes:
Last week, we saw something we don’t see enough of in Washington: a coalition of senators scrambling partisan lines to passionately debate substantive policy on the Senate floor. And then, obstruction prevailed.
Despite earning the support of 55 senators — a bipartisan coalition joining Democrats Barbara Boxer and Richard Blumenthal with Republicans Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, and including both Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — our bill to create an objective military justice system free of the inherent bias and conflicts of interest within the chain of command fell short of the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
But we will not walk away. We will work harder than ever in the coming year to strengthen our military by taking sexual assaults and other major crimes out of the chain of command — so that no victim is compelled to turn to his or her boss to ask for justice.
