--- title: Senate Blocks Kirsten Gillibrand Bill on Military Sexual-Assault Cases description: Legislation sponsored by New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that would have taken military sexual assault cases outside the fighting forces' chain of command came up five votes short of advancement canonical: https://time.com/14718/military-sexual-assault-senate-vote/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-06T20:23:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:37:54.339Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senate Blocks Kirsten Gillibrand Bill on Military Sexual-Assault Cases og:description: Legislation sponsored by New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that would have taken military sexual assault cases outside the fighting forces' chain of command came up five votes short of advancement og:url: https://time.com/14718/military-sexual-assault-senate-vote/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a9fc185392831aa/698684453bc99984061a2325/5a9e88920fe149adbb68a8b3b4b6a067-0.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Kirsten Gillibrand og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senate Blocks Kirsten Gillibrand Bill on Military Sexual-Assault Cases twitter:description: Legislation sponsored by New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that would have taken military sexual assault cases outside the fighting forces' chain of command came up five votes short of advancement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a9fc185392831aa/698684453bc99984061a2325/5a9e88920fe149adbb68a8b3b4b6a067-0.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senate Blocks Bill to Reform Military Sexual-Assault Cases by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 6, 2014 8:23 PM UTC  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, pauses while speaking at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 6, 2014, following a Senate vote on military sexual assaults Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, pauses while speaking at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 6, 2014, following a Senate vote on military sexual assaultsCharles Dharapak—AP by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 6, 2014 8:23 PM UTC The Senate defeated [legislation](http://time.com/13941/senate-to-vote-on-competing-military-sexual-assault-bills/) Thursday that would have taken military sexual-assault cases outside the chain of command. It was a setback for New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who sponsored the bill, after several months of Democratic infighting. The measure had the backing of majority leader Harry Reid and minority leader Mitch McConnell, but it got 55 votes, shy of the 60-vote threshold needed to continue. Ten Republicans supported the bill. (**MORE:** [Competing Military Sexual-Assault Bills](http://time.com/13941/senate-to-vote-on-competing-military-sexual-assault-bills/)) Opponents of the bill — including Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, who has sponsored a competing measure — say significant reforms were signed into law in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which provided additional levels of review. Gillibrand’s bill would have gone further by taking these cases outside the military chain of command. The Pentagon has estimated there were 26,000 instances of unwanted sexual contact in 2012, an increase of more than 30% since 2010. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/14718/military-sexual-assault-senate-vote/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/14718/military-sexual-assault-senate-vote/"},"headline":"Senate Blocks Bill to Reform Military Sexual-Assault Cases","datePublished":"2014-03-06T20:23:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:37:54.339Z","description":"Legislation sponsored by New York Democratic Sen. 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