[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8173]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT BILL

  (Mrs. WALORSKI asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. WALORSKI. Mr. Speaker, last night the House Armed Services 
Committee approved its version of the National Defense Authorization 
Act for fiscal year 2014.
  Included was a provision I sponsored, along with Congresswoman 
Loretta Sanchez, to extend whistleblower protections to victims of 
military sexual abuse. This bipartisan proposal will strengthen 
whistleblower protection laws and ensure that victims are protected 
from punishment for reporting sexual assault in the military.
  The Pentagon recently reported that an estimated 26,000 
servicemembers were sexually assaulted last year with just over 3,000 
cases reported. This one statistic alone is chilling, and it's only the 
tip of the iceberg.
  Our military represents the bravest men and women in the Nation, and 
growing reports of sexual assault and underreporting are sadly 
tarnishing the reputation of our Armed Forces. This bill gets to the 
root of the problem by creating a safe reporting environment and 
demanding accountability from our military leaders.
  Passage of this bill will be a step in the right direction to help 
victims and restore trust in our military.
  I am pleased this bipartisan provision is one step closer to becoming 
law.

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