Dems See One Thing In Common With The Stallmigos!

Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) along with Stallmigos Rand Paul (R-KY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-New York) is taking on a very serious issue.

She along with two of the Stillmigos are finding common ground to this issue. This bill will stop the rise in military sexual assault.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) practically have no legislative accomplishments whatsoever but managed to get top booking on news programs. Yet for all their hoopla and dragon smoke, they've won nothing but scorn among their critics.

They've been praised by the conservative agitators as the "in your face" tactics they've brought to President Barack Obama. They've managed to stall nominees, filibuster over trivial issues and rally a base of ignorance towards his

For this one moment, the Stallmigos found some common ground with the Democrats.

Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is a term used by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) to refer to rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment that occurs during military service. While sexual assault within the military is monitored by the Department of Defense (DoD) Sexual Assault and Prevention Response Office (SAPRO), MST is more broadly defined and is monitored within the DVA by the Military Sexual Trauma Support Team.

Senators Gillibrand and Susan Collins (R-Maine) were amongst the sponsoring congress members and Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) and others reportedly joined as cosponsors.

Co-sponsor Representative Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), who once worked as a rape crisis counselor, said, "It is clear that something is not working.

As of 2013 in cases where sexual assault is alleged extremely intrusive and aggressive cross examination of the victim is permitted during Article 32 hearings, a practice which has been cited by critics of the military's handling of sexual assault.

The addition of the two conservative senators broadens the political and ideological range of the Senate coalition fighting an uphill battle to shift the responsibility for trying sexual assault cases from commanders to military prosecutors.

"So this is not a Democratic idea. It is not a Republican idea," Gillibrand said at a Capitol Hill news conference. "It is a good idea that meets the needs of the victims, creates transparency and accountability, and creates the needed objectivity that this issue deserves."

Gillibrand plans to offer the restructuring as an amendment to the defense authorization bill on the Senate floor, either later this month or in the fall. The Senate Armed Services Committee rejected the legislation in a 17-9 vote last month.

Her measure, which has 33 co-sponsors, would shift the authority commanders now have to military prosecutors to decide how to try rape, sexual assault, murder and a list of other serious crimes.

"I see no reason why conservatives shouldn't support this," Paul said. "Justice is very important for me, both for the accused and the victim."

He said he signed on after Gillibrand agreed to make changes in the measure by leaving some offenses she had included in her measure in the commanders' control. "These were disobeying orders and some other things," he said.

Cruz, who voted for Gillibrand's amendment in committee, said he was persuaded by two points. Sexual assault victims don't report the attacks because they are afraid to come forward, he said. Also, reporting of those crimes rose in Great Britain, Israel and Germany after those countries instituted policies similar to Gillibrand's measure.

Military rape happens and most women (and sometimes men) fear retaliation if they report the incident to their supervisors.

The measure is opposed by all top-ranking military officials along with Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Levin said earlier Tuesday that the defense authorization bill already includes major changes to address military sexual assault, including referring cases to the top of the chain of command and providing victims with special counsel.

The Invisible War is a 2012 documentary film written and directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering and Tanner King Barklow about sexual assault in the United States military. It premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.

The Invisible War features interviews with veterans from multiple branches of the United States Armed Forces who recount the events surrounding their assaults. Their stories show many common themes, such as the lack of recourse to an impartial justice system, reprisals against survivors instead of against perpetrators, the absence of adequate emotional and physical care for survivors, the unhindered advancement of perpetrators' careers, and the forced expulsion of survivors from service.

Interspersed with these first person testimonies are interviews with advocates, journalists, mental health professionals, active duty and retired generals, Department of Defense officials, and members of the military justice system. The film also includes footage, often shot by the veterans themselves, which documents their lives and continuing struggles in the aftermath of their assaults.

In the film's most prominent narrative, Coast Guard veteran Seaman Kori Cioca struggles to earn benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for the many medical difficulties that have resulted from her rape. With the help of attorney Susan L. Burke, Cioca, along with other survivors featured in the film, brings a civil suit against the Department of Defense alleging a failure to adequately address sexual assault within the military.

Other past incidents of sexual abuse recounted in the film include the 1991 Navy Tailhook scandal, the 1996 Army Aberdeen scandal, and the 2003 Air Force Academy scandal. The Invisible War uses these examples to argue that the military has consistently made empty promises to address its high rate of sexual assault.

These stories culminate with an examination of the previously unreported culture of sexual harassment and sexual assault at the prestigious Marine Barracks Washington.

The survivors and advocates featured in the film call for changes to the way the military handles sexual assault, such as shifting prosecution away from unit commanders, who often are either friends with assailants or are assailants themselves.