Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SR179 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	III
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. RES. 179
5	5	Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault
6	6	Awareness and Prevention Month.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	APRIL10, 2025
9	9	Mr. G
10	10	RASSLEY(for himself, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. CORTEZ
11	11	M
12	12	ASTO, Ms. ERNST, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. LUJA´N, and
13	13	Mr. B
14	14	LUMENTHAL) submitted the following resolution; which was consid-
15	15	ered and agreed to
16	16	RESOLUTION
17	17	Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of National
18	18	Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
19	19	Whereas the Senate is committed to the awareness, preven-
20	20	tion, and deterrence of sexual violence affecting individ-
21	21	uals in the United States;
22	22	Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
23	23	Prevention, 2 in 5 women and 1 in 4 men experience sex-
24	24	ual or physical violence, or stalking, by an intimate part-
25	25	ner;
26	26	Whereas, according to the 2023 Child Maltreatment Report
27	27	of the Department of Health and Human Services, child
28	28	protection service agencies throughout the United States
29	29	substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate, that
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32	32	•SRES 179 ATS
33	33	546,159 children under 18 years of age were victims of
34	34	sexual abuse or neglect that year;
35	35	Whereas, according to the 2016/2017 National Intimate
36	36	Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 1 in 3 women and
37	37	1 in 4 men who have experienced a completed or at-
38	38	tempted rape experienced it for the first time between the
39	39	ages of 11 and 17;
40	40	Whereas sexual violence is a burden for many individuals who
41	41	serve in the Armed Forces, and the Department of De-
42	42	fense estimates that approximately 29,061 members of
43	43	the Armed Forces, including approximately 15,201
44	44	women and 13,860 men, experienced some form of con-
45	45	tact or penetrative sexual assault during 2023;
46	46	Whereas sexual assault does not discriminate on any basis
47	47	and can affect any individual in the United States;
48	48	Whereas sexual violence may take many forms, including—
49	49	(1) acquaintance, stranger, spousal, and gang rape;
50	50	(2) incest;
51	51	(3) child sexual abuse;
52	52	(4) elder sexual abuse;
53	53	(5) sexual abuse and exploitation of underserved
54	54	communities;
55	55	(6) commercial sex trafficking;
56	56	(7) sexual harassment; and
57	57	(8) stalking;
58	58	Whereas studies have suggested that survivors of color face
59	59	unique challenges and more should be done to better un-
60	60	derstand the impact of sexual violence on communities of
61	61	color;
62	62	Whereas studies have suggested that the rate at which Amer-
63	63	ican Indians and Alaska Natives experience sexual vio-
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66	66	•SRES 179 ATS
67	67	lence is significantly higher than for other populations in
68	68	the United States;
69	69	Whereas, according to the National Alliance to End Sexual
70	70	Violence, in addition to the immediate physical and emo-
71	71	tional costs, sexual assault has numerous adverse con-
72	72	sequences, which can include post-traumatic stress dis-
73	73	order, substance abuse, major depression, homelessness,
74	74	eating disorders, and suicide;
75	75	Whereas, according to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control
76	76	and Prevention survey, the average cost of rape is
77	77	$122,461 for each victim over the lifetime of the victim,
78	78	totaling a $3,100,000,000,000 economic burden for sur-
79	79	vivors of rape in the United States;
80	80	Whereas many sexual assaults are not reported to law en-
81	81	forcement agencies, and many States have restrictive
82	82	criminal statutes of limitations, which enable many per-
83	83	petrators to evade punishment for their crimes;
84	84	Whereas advances in deoxyribonucleic acid (commonly known
85	85	as ‘‘DNA’’) technology have enabled law enforcement
86	86	agencies to identify and prosecute the perpetrators in
87	87	tens of thousands of previously unsolved sexual assault
88	88	cases;
89	89	Whereas incarceration of sexual assault perpetrators can pre-
90	90	vent perpetrators from committing additional crimes;
91	91	Whereas, according to a 2023 survey by the National Alliance
92	92	to End Sexual Violence, 48 percent of rape crisis centers
93	93	lack a therapist on staff, and 70 percent of programs had
94	94	an increased demand for services in the past year;
95	95	Whereas national, State, territorial, and Tribal coalitions,
96	96	community-based rape crisis centers, culturally specific
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99	99	•SRES 179 ATS
100	100	sexual assault organizations, and other organizations
101	101	across the United States are committed to—
102	102	(1) eliminating sexual violence through prevention
103	103	and education; and
104	104	(2) increasing public awareness of sexual violence
105	105	and the prevalence of sexual violence;
106	106	Whereas thousands of volunteers and staff at rape crisis cen-
107	107	ters, State coalitions against sexual assault, culturally
108	108	specific sexual assault organizations, and nonprofit orga-
109	109	nizations across the United States play an important role
110	110	in making crisis hotlines and other services available to
111	111	survivors of sexual assault;
112	112	Whereas important partnerships have been formed among
113	113	criminal and juvenile justice agencies, health profes-
114	114	sionals, public health workers, educators, first respond-
115	115	ers, and victim service providers;
116	116	Whereas free, confidential help is available to all victims and
117	117	survivors of sexual assault through—
118	118	(1) the victim service programs of the Rape, Abuse
119	119	& Incest National Network (commonly known and re-
120	120	ferred to in this preamble as ‘‘RAINN’’), including the
121	121	National Sexual Assault Hotline—
122	122	(A) by telephone at 800–656–HOPE; and
123	123	(B) online at https://hotline.rainn.org; and
124	124	(2) more than 1,500 local rape crisis centers across
125	125	the United States;
126	126	Whereas the victim service programs of RAINN, including
127	127	the National Sexual Assault Hotline, help more than
128	128	300,000 survivors and their loved ones each year on aver-
129	129	age;
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133	133	Whereas the Department of Defense provides the Safe
134	134	Helpline, Safe HelpRoom, and Safe Helpline mobile ap-
135	135	plication, each of which provide support and help to
136	136	members of the Department of Defense community—
137	137	(1) by telephone at 877–995–5247; and
138	138	(2) online at https://SafeHelpline.org;
139	139	Whereas individual and collective efforts reflect the dream of
140	140	the people of the United States—
141	141	(1) for individuals and organizations to actively work
142	142	to prevent all forms of sexual violence; and
143	143	(2) for no victim of sexual assault to be unserved or
144	144	feel that there is no path to justice; and
145	145	Whereas April 2025 is recognized as ‘‘National Sexual As-
146	146	sault Awareness and Prevention Month’’: Now, therefore,
147	147	be it
148	148	Resolved, That— 1
149	149	(1) it is the sense of the Senate that— 2
150	150	(A) National Sexual Assault Awareness 3
151	151	and Prevention Month provides a special oppor-4
152	152	tunity— 5
153	153	(i) to educate the people of the United 6
154	154	States about sexual violence; and 7
155	155	(ii) to encourage— 8
156	156	(I) the prevention of sexual as-9
157	157	sault; 10
158	158	(II) improvement in the treat-11
159	159	ment of survivors of sexual assault; 12
160	160	and 13
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163	163	•SRES 179 ATS
164	164	(III) the prosecution of perpetra-1
165	165	tors of sexual assault; 2
166	166	(B) it is appropriate to properly acknowl-3
167	167	edge survivors of sexual assault and to com-4
168	168	mend the volunteers and professionals who as-5
169	169	sist those survivors in their efforts to heal; 6
170	170	(C) national and community organizations 7
171	171	and private sector supporters should be recog-8
172	172	nized and applauded for their work in— 9
173	173	(i) promoting awareness about sexual 10
174	174	assault; 11
175	175	(ii) providing information and treat-12
176	176	ment to survivors of sexual assault; and 13
177	177	(iii) increasing the number of success-14
178	178	ful prosecutions of perpetrators of sexual 15
179	179	assault; and 16
180	180	(D) public safety, law enforcement, and 17
181	181	health professionals should be recognized and 18
182	182	applauded for their hard work and innovative 19
183	183	strategies to ensure perpetrators of sexual as-20
184	184	sault are held accountable; and 21
185	185	(2) the Senate supports the goals and ideals of 22
186	186	National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention 23
187	187	Month. 24
188	188	Æ
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