Contact: Edie Heipel, Edie.Heipel@mail.house.gov

It is my honor to introduce my first piece of legislation today known as the Stop Our Sexual assault in the military (SOS) Act, co-led with my colleague from Florida’s 23rd District, Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz.

Sexual assault cases are all too prevalent in the military and we have seen an unacceptable uptick over the last few years. This bill would go a long way in putting a stop to this and ensuring our service members are fully equipped to defend and protect our Nation without facing personal assault. 

When I served in the military, I witnessed the lack of self defense and combat training. This bipartisan piece of legislation would ensure that out of the already-required physical training days each month for active duty service members, one of those days would be designated to self defense/combat training. 

Importantly, this bill does not increase the number of training days required. All members of our military will benefit from this prevention and response training. This is a no-brainer.

As a veteran, I will always have the backs of our brave men and women who put everything on the line to defend our nation so that we can live in the strongest country in the world. 

I was joined by my colleagues Rep. Moskowitz (FL-23), Rep. Neal Dunn (FL-2), Rep. Chuck Edwards (NC-11), Rep. James Moylan (Guam-At Large), Rep. Crenshaw (TX-2), Rep. Gaetz (FL-1), Rep. Posey (FL-8), Rep. Russell Fry (SC-7), Rep. Byron Donalds (FL-19), Rep. Andre Carson (IN-7), Rep. Steube (FL-17), Rep. Mace (SC-01), Rep. Boebert (CO-03), Rep. McClain (MI-9), and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-26).