now in 2012 there was an estimated 26,000 sexual assaults in the military. almost 90% of those cases were never reported. senator kirsten gillibrand has introduced a military justice improvement act, which would come up for a vote as early as next month. at this point it s short of the votes needed to avoid a filibuster. joining me now, senator kirsten gillibrand. welcome to taking the hill. thank you so much for having me on. yeah it s great to be with you. and thanks for coming to new york since you represent this area. senator, the military justice improvement act. can you share with our viewers what that is? well as you said, 26,000 cases of unwanted sexual attempts rapes, sexual assaults last year alone. and what s really going on is there s been a breach of trust. the women and men who have been so brutally raped aren t reporting these cases because they do not believe their commanders will do anything. they also fear retaliation.
unlikely bipartisan band of senators, including republican senators chuck grassley, rand paul and ted cruz s along with most democratic senators, including senate majority leader harry reid. a total of 54 senators at last count, a clear majority. the strong bipartisan response epitomized by this response, the senators tearing up as they listen to a marine, ben clay, talking about his marine wife, ariana, who was raped at a barracks. the military justice improvement act which would remove sexual assault cases from the military chain of command. in this survey, this confidential survey, the reasons victims didn t report is they say they didn t believe anything would be done. they also said they either feared or witnessed retaliation. the confidence in an objective review by somebody who doesn t
failed miserably. but that system, supported by an unlikely bipartisan band of senators, including republican senators chuck grassley, rand paul and ted cruz s along with most democratic senators, including senate majority leader harry reid. a total of 54 senators at last count, a clear majority. the strong bipartisan response epitomized by this response, the senators tearing up as they listen to a marine, ben clay, talking about his marine wife, ariana, who was raped at a barracks. the military justice improvement act which would remove sexual assault cases from the military chain of command. in this survey, this confidential survey, the reasons victims didn t report is they say they didn t believe anything would be done. they also said they either feared or witnessed retaliation.
senators, including republican senators chuck grassley, rand paul and ted cruz s along with most democratic senators, including senate majority leader harry reid. a total of 54 senators at last count, a clear majority. the strong bipartisan response epitomized by this response, the senators tearing up as they listen to a marine, ben clay, talking about his marine wife, ariana, who was raped at a barracks. the military justice improvement act which would remove sexual assault cases from the military chain of command. in this survey, this confidential survey, the reasons victims didn t report is they say they didn t believe anything would be done. they also said they either feared or witnessed retaliation. the confidence in an objective review by somebody who doesn t know the perpetrator and doesn t know the victim doesn t exist. essentially, the entire
senators rand paul and ted cruz are making in a bipartisan effort. what to you think the chances are of this happening? i m hopeful that the military justice improvement act will get a i rooufed. really all that she s asking for and now the other politicians are supporting her as well is a professionalism within the military judicial system. that s it. we re not saying take it out of the entire military judicial system and put it in the hands of others. we re just saying take it out of the hands of your direct commanding officers. that s where the protective bubble keeps living when we keep it in the hands of the commanders. it s like if you were raped by your brother and sister and having your mother or father