Rep. Jackie Speier calls on Congress to address military rapes

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) on the House floor Wednesday called on Congress to do something about the pervasive problem of sexual harassment and rape that in the U.S. military.

"I rise today, as I have done virtually every week, to tell a story of a man or woman in the military who has been raped," she said. "Nineteen thousand are raped every year in the military, only 13 percent report the rapes, because there has been such an ineffective addressing of this issue."

"It is time for us to act, we have known of this problem for over sixteen years. We have had eighteen years of reporting on this issue and yet nothing changes."

She went on to tell a story about a woman who was repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted while serving in U.S military. Her superiors told her that the men were just "being playful." The woman was later raped by another member of the military while serving in Italy. Despite evidence against her perpetrator, he was found not guilty.

"We must take steps to prevent this crime from happening and punish the perpetrators when it does."

The speech was the seventh time Speier has told a story on the House floor of a man or woman in the military being raped.

Watch video of her floor speech, uploaded to YouTube on September 14, 2011, below: