ABC "This Week" - Transcript - Military Sexual Assault and Affordable Care Act

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

RADDATZ: And now, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joins us. Thank you very much for joining us.

I'm going to ask you the same question, can President Obama regain the trust of the American people?

GILLIBRAND: Of course, he can. Because, Martha, what this is about is everyday people needing access to Affordable Health Care. They don't want their coverage dropped because of a pre-existing condition or when they get sick. They want their kids covered up to 26. And they want to have preventive care covered. And that's what this bill does.

So, once we get over this implementation issue, we will then.

RADDATZ: If we get over this implementation...

GILLIBRAND: We will.

They can fix this. This is a fixable problem. So, once they fix it, people will see, I have an opportunity to cover my family. And Martha, I was in the emergency room just last week with my son who had an asthma attack and took too many puffs on his puffer. And I looked in the eyes of all the other mothers in the emergency room, these are mothers who don't have health care, who may not -- this may be their only access.

RADDATZ: But whose trust has been shattered.

GILLIBRAND: No, but once -- that's an implementation issue. Once you get beyond it, you then say, look, oh my gosh.

RADDATZ: And you think we'll get beyond it?

GILLIBRAND: We will.

You know, what though, see emergency room is covered. Do you how much it is to go to an emergency room? You get a bill. It's very expensive.

RADDATZ: Let me ask you this, I want to go back to this implementation, because we can't quite go forward yet. Did you feel misled by Obama?

GILLIBRAND: He should have just been more specific, because the point is if you're offered by a terrible health care plan that the minute you get sick, you're going to have to go into bankruptcy, those plans should never be offered.

RADDATZ: So, were you misled?

GILLIBRAND: He should have just been specific.

No, we all knew, the whole point of the plan is to cover things people need, like preventive care, birth control, pregnancy. How many women the minute they get pregnant might risk their coverage? How many women paid more because of their gender because they might get pregnant? Those are the reforms...

RADDATZ: But we're talking about leadership here and trust. What does this all say about President Obama's leadership these past few weeks? He fell on his sword but he's missed that sword a couple of times.

GILLIBRAND: Well, no one is more disappointed in the implementation issues than President Obama and he has taken full responsibility for the mistakes and the lack of getting this system up and running when it was supposed to be up and running.

But what this was about, Martha, are those mothers in the emergency room who don't have access to affordable health care. I can't tell you how frightening it is when your kid can't breathe. It is a horrible moment. And I looked at every mother, and I'm telling you, we have to fix health care in this country. So, when you talk about President Obama's legacy, his legacy is going to be offering affordable health care to every family in this country.

RADDATZ: But you talk about this and what they want, 39 Democrats defected in the bill you heard Jon Karl mentioning in the house. 39 Democrats. What does that tell you?

GILLIBRAND: Well, they're just responding to the worries of their constituents. When...

RADDATZ: Exactly.

GILLIBRAND: Right -- because of these implementation issues, there's a number of Americans who got a notice from their insurance saying we're not covering you anymore.

Well, do you know what that creates in a family? Enormous amounts of stress. It's exactly the stress when you don't know how you're going to pay for your child's medicine and you don't know how you're going to pay for the inoculations they need to stay healthy.

And the whole point of the bill is so you can actually get those inoculations. You can make sure your kid isn't going to get sick. You can make sure you get the medicines he or she needs.

RADDATZ: Got to work through it.

GILLIBRAND: They're worried. They're worried. And I think it's not only normal, but our job is to fix these problems. So if they're trying to ally someone's concern just say listen, we're going to make sure there's something affordable. And during this transition period where implementation has been rocky, we're going to allay your concerns, that's reasonable.

And I think many of our colleagues, Democrats and Republicans are trying to figure out do we allay that worry. And that's exactly what the president is doing.

RADDATZ: Speaking of presidents, OK, this is the front cover of The National Journal. There you are with that same sort of campaign logo President Obama had.

GILLIBRAND: Yeah.

RADDATZ: What is your reaction to that?

GILLIBRAND: I think it's a nice picture. I like the picture.

RADDATZ: So, what does it say? Any plans?

GILLIBRAND: No, no.

I am on the bandwagon for Hillary Clinton 2016. And not only have...

RADDATZ: And you're not going to look beyond that?

GILLIBRAND: I have personally encouraged her. I think she would be an extraordinary president. She has not only the gravitas, but experience. What she's done as secretary of state has been incredible. And I think people really are looking to her for leadership.

RADDATZ: OK, senator, I want to turn to another issue that you have been very involved in and that is changing the way that the military investigates sexual assault. It's a debate that pitted you against members of your own party, against the military brass. And the debate is heading to the senate floor. Let's talk about that in just a moment.

But first, here's ABC's Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Ariana Klay, marine officer, Iraq war veteran and victim of sexual assault.

ARIANNA KLAY, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: When I reported the assault, my commander responded with retaliation. The humiliation of the retaliation was worse than the assault, because it was sanctioned from the same leaders I once would have risked my life for.

ZELENY: The shocking number of these cases has placed it center stage on Capitol Hill. America's all-male top brass, confronted by two Democratic senators, both women, but with different proposals to reform the military justice system.

On one side Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, pushing to take sexual assault cases outside the chain of command, stripping commanders of their prosecuting role.

GILLIBRAND: Too often, these brave men and women are in the fight of their life. And it is not on some far off foreign soil, it's right within their own ranks.

ZELENY: On the other side Senator Claire McCaskill, seeking historic changes, but adamant commanders stay involved.

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, (D) MISSOURI: I believe these reforms will hold the chain of command more accountable and force them to be part of the solution.

ZELENY: And the Pentagon favors the McCaskill plan. It's an uphill battle for Gillibrand, still short of the 60 votes she needs.

For this week, Jeff Zeleny, ABC News, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ: Back now with Senator Gillibrand.

You heard in Jeff Zeleny's report -- and you know this, you're shy of those 60 votes.

GILLIBRAND: I think we'll get them, Martha. This is a growing debate all around this country because we want to make sure that the men and women who serve our military have a justice system deserving of their sacrifices. They are literally giving their lives for our values, for our country and they shouldn't have a justice system that is rife with bias and unfairness. They need justice. And that's what we're trying to do.

RADDATZ: One of the things you told your hometown paper, I think it with us in today's paper, was that you would consider taking parts of the legislation out for other serious crimes, murder and theft, are you going to do that or are you going to stick to the original plan?

GILLIBRAND: No, we're going to stick to the original plan because it's a better bill. At the end of the day...

RADDATZ: You also would have lost a lot of support, correct, from advocacy groups?

GILLIBRAND: Well, it's been an interesting process, because what we learned is, having the bright line of elevating all serious crimes out of the chain of command, makes sure both victims' rights are protected and defendants' rights for civil liberties reasons, that you need fairness and justice.

Because what we've got, Martha, 26,000 cases of sexual assault and rape last year alone.

RADDATZ: But let me go to -- you yourself said those 26,000, you don't know whether they're the difference between patting someone on the bottom or rape. So if you have those kind of statistics, and they're even worse this year, but you don't really know what the data is, how can you make recommendations?

GILLIBRAND: We do know the data. This is from the Department of Defense. This is their estimate, not my estimate, their estimate.

RADDATZ: But they don't know as you yourself have said.

GILLIBRAND: Agreed. But Martha, what we do know, the 3,000 cases that were reported, 70 percent were violent, violent rapes and sexual assaults. And even more disturbing, of those 3,000 cases that were reported 62 percent of the victims were retaliated against.

So, what we have is a system where the command climate is so broken that if you are raped, you are likely going to be retaliated against for reporting that rape.

RADDATZ: I want you listen to some of the opposition here, and there is a lot of it, including from some very decorated veterans. Listen to what Senator John McCain said this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: I'm the only member of the United States Senate who was actually in command, okay? And I respect Senator Gillibrand's views and her advocacy, but I do not believe that she has background or experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: Do you have the background or experience?

GILLIBRAND: I do. And I respect and admire and am good friends with Senator McCain. But our job as senators and members of congress is the vital constitutional responsibility of providing oversight and accountability over the department of defense. It's actually our job. And I am the personnel subcommittee chairman. This is my job.

And, third, this is an epidemic that has grown to such proportions. And the military has said for 25 years, since Dick Cheney was the secretary of defense, that there is zero tolerance for sexual assault in the military. And last year alone, we had 3,000 reported cases of sexual assault.

RADDATZ: We've had so much attention -- you've helped with that attention in the last couple of months. I want to go to this, because the president of the United States has put a lot of attention on this, does he support what you're trying to do? Does he support your amendment?

GILLIBRAND: I'm so hopeful that he will. Because this is an opportunity for him to show extraordinary leadership on this issue. Because there's a growing chorus of generals, of veterans -- the Vietnam Veterans Association, Iraq veterans, Afghanistan veterans, all support this case. And there's a panel, a DOD commission that actually advises on the status of women, handpicked by the DOD, and they have just come out to support every aspect of this legislation. 10 votes in favor. Those 10 votes, 9 out of 10 are all former military and four are generals.

RADDATZ: Still a long line of generals who do not support it.

GILLIBRAND: Those are the chain in command generals who may not speak publicly. But we have former generals, highest ranking female ever in the army supports it, three-star general.

RADDATZ: Thanks very much for joining us, Senator Gillibrand.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source