[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, the men and women who serve our country every 
day have to worry about the fate of losing a limb or losing their life 
facing the enemy, but they shouldn't have to worry about the insidious 
sexual assaults from their very own, nor should they have to live in 
the shadows of fear and intimidation and retaliation by their abuser.
  According to our Department of Defense, 26,000 servicemen and 
servicewomen who serve our country were sexually assaulted in the 
military in 2012. That's more than 70 servicewomen and servicemen 
sexually assaulted every single day in our military. That's a scary 
statistic.
  But what's even scarier is, due to a culture heavy on retaliation and 
light on prosecution, only 3,374 of those cases were even reported. 
This is a pervasive crisis that threatens the moral underpinnings of 
our military. We must take urgent action now.
  I actually support the underlying changes of the defense bill that 
we're going to be voting on this week.
  Congress should create a transparent and fair system that ensures the 
safety of our men and women in the armed services who have sacrificed 
enough.

                          ____________________