Turner and Tsongas, the widow of one-time Democratic presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, are co-founders and co-chairs of the Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus in the House and have worked together on the issue for the last five years. Both are members of the House Armed Services Committee. For the past few years, every annual National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress has included some measures authored by the two aimed at preventing and responding to sexual assault in the military.
Most recently, a bill written by Turner and Tsongas was folded into this year’s defense bill. The bill included measures that would limit soldiers’ ability to cite unrelated factors, such as military record in their defense; require commanders to be assessed on their ability to create a climate where a victim can report a crime without fear of retaliation; and require commanders and servicemembers be assessed on their support of sexual assault prevention and response policies.
The bill also included measures that ensured that all changes regarding military sexual assault prevention apply to the military service academies.
Turner and Tsongas have yet to push new measures, but the year is young, and substantive work on this year’s Defense bill is just beginning.
In their statement Wednesday, Turner, Tsongas and Slaughter credited current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel for showing “a willingness to work with Congress on this issue” and for taking steps to “change the military culture that has allowed these crimes to occur for too long.”
“But there is much more work to be done,” they wrote.
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