A reminder of what's at stake here.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's Military Justice Improvement Act
failed to overcome a filibuster Thursday afternoon in a 55 to 45 vote. That is, of course, 55 votes in favor, 45 votes against, leaving the bill five votes short of the required supermajority. As expected, the vote shook up usual partisan lines, with 10 Republicans supporting the bill and 10 Democrats opposing it. In remarks following the vote, Gillibrand said:
I want to especially thank all the survivors. We owe our gratitude to the brave survivors who, despite being betrayed by their chain of command, continue to serve their country by fighting for a justice system that will help make sure no one else suffers the same tragedy they did. Their struggles, sacrifice and courage inspire me every day.
They may not wear the uniform any more, but they believe so strongly in these forms that for a full year now, they marched the halls of this Congress, reliving the horror they endured, telling their stories, in hopes that no one else who serves our country has to suffer as they did.
Tragically, today the Senate failed them. Despite earning the support of the majority of the Senate, we fell five votes short of overcoming the 60-vote filibuster threshold. But we will not walk away, we will continue to work harder than ever in the coming year to strengthen our military.
Without a doubt, with the National Defense bill we passed, and Senator McCaskill’s Victims Protection Act, we have taken good steps to stand up for victims, and hold offenders accountable.
But we have not taken a step far enough. We know the deck is stacked against victims of sexual assault in the military, and today, we saw the same in the halls of Congress.
The military once again has a chance to show real will to clean up its act on sexual assault, after decades of promising and failing to do so. If it fails once again, the Senate will very likely be revisiting this proposal.
