III
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. RES. 179
Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault
Awareness and Prevention Month.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL10, 2025
Mr. G
RASSLEY(for himself, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. CORTEZ
M
ASTO, Ms. ERNST, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. LUJA´N, and
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL) submitted the following resolution; which was consid-
ered and agreed to
RESOLUTION
Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of National
Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
Whereas the Senate is committed to the awareness, preven-
tion, and deterrence of sexual violence affecting individ-
uals in the United States;
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2 in 5 women and 1 in 4 men experience sex-
ual or physical violence, or stalking, by an intimate part-
ner;
Whereas, according to the 2023 Child Maltreatment Report
of the Department of Health and Human Services, child
protection service agencies throughout the United States
substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate, that
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR179.ATS SR179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•SRES 179 ATS
546,159 children under 18 years of age were victims of
sexual abuse or neglect that year;
Whereas, according to the 2016/2017 National Intimate
Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 1 in 3 women and
1 in 4 men who have experienced a completed or at-
tempted rape experienced it for the first time between the
ages of 11 and 17;
Whereas sexual violence is a burden for many individuals who
serve in the Armed Forces, and the Department of De-
fense estimates that approximately 29,061 members of
the Armed Forces, including approximately 15,201
women and 13,860 men, experienced some form of con-
tact or penetrative sexual assault during 2023;
Whereas sexual assault does not discriminate on any basis
and can affect any individual in the United States;
Whereas sexual violence may take many forms, including—
(1) acquaintance, stranger, spousal, and gang rape;
(2) incest;
(3) child sexual abuse;
(4) elder sexual abuse;
(5) sexual abuse and exploitation of underserved
communities;
(6) commercial sex trafficking;
(7) sexual harassment; and
(8) stalking;
Whereas studies have suggested that survivors of color face
unique challenges and more should be done to better un-
derstand the impact of sexual violence on communities of
color;
Whereas studies have suggested that the rate at which Amer-
ican Indians and Alaska Natives experience sexual vio-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR179.ATS SR179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•SRES 179 ATS
lence is significantly higher than for other populations in
the United States;
Whereas, according to the National Alliance to End Sexual
Violence, in addition to the immediate physical and emo-
tional costs, sexual assault has numerous adverse con-
sequences, which can include post-traumatic stress dis-
order, substance abuse, major depression, homelessness,
eating disorders, and suicide;
Whereas, according to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention survey, the average cost of rape is
$122,461 for each victim over the lifetime of the victim,
totaling a $3,100,000,000,000 economic burden for sur-
vivors of rape in the United States;
Whereas many sexual assaults are not reported to law en-
forcement agencies, and many States have restrictive
criminal statutes of limitations, which enable many per-
petrators to evade punishment for their crimes;
Whereas advances in deoxyribonucleic acid (commonly known
as ‘‘DNA’’) technology have enabled law enforcement
agencies to identify and prosecute the perpetrators in
tens of thousands of previously unsolved sexual assault
cases;
Whereas incarceration of sexual assault perpetrators can pre-
vent perpetrators from committing additional crimes;
Whereas, according to a 2023 survey by the National Alliance
to End Sexual Violence, 48 percent of rape crisis centers
lack a therapist on staff, and 70 percent of programs had
an increased demand for services in the past year;
Whereas national, State, territorial, and Tribal coalitions,
community-based rape crisis centers, culturally specific
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR179.ATS SR179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•SRES 179 ATS
sexual assault organizations, and other organizations
across the United States are committed to—
(1) eliminating sexual violence through prevention
and education; and
(2) increasing public awareness of sexual violence
and the prevalence of sexual violence;
Whereas thousands of volunteers and staff at rape crisis cen-
ters, State coalitions against sexual assault, culturally
specific sexual assault organizations, and nonprofit orga-
nizations across the United States play an important role
in making crisis hotlines and other services available to
survivors of sexual assault;
Whereas important partnerships have been formed among
criminal and juvenile justice agencies, health profes-
sionals, public health workers, educators, first respond-
ers, and victim service providers;
Whereas free, confidential help is available to all victims and
survivors of sexual assault through—
(1) the victim service programs of the Rape, Abuse
& Incest National Network (commonly known and re-
ferred to in this preamble as ‘‘RAINN’’), including the
National Sexual Assault Hotline—
(A) by telephone at 800–656–HOPE; and
(B) online at https://hotline.rainn.org; and
(2) more than 1,500 local rape crisis centers across
the United States;
Whereas the victim service programs of RAINN, including
the National Sexual Assault Hotline, help more than
300,000 survivors and their loved ones each year on aver-
age;
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR179.ATS SR179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•SRES 179 ATS
Whereas the Department of Defense provides the Safe
Helpline, Safe HelpRoom, and Safe Helpline mobile ap-
plication, each of which provide support and help to
members of the Department of Defense community—
(1) by telephone at 877–995–5247; and
(2) online at https://SafeHelpline.org;
Whereas individual and collective efforts reflect the dream of
the people of the United States—
(1) for individuals and organizations to actively work
to prevent all forms of sexual violence; and
(2) for no victim of sexual assault to be unserved or
feel that there is no path to justice; and
Whereas April 2025 is recognized as ‘‘National Sexual As-
sault Awareness and Prevention Month’’: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That— 1
(1) it is the sense of the Senate that— 2
(A) National Sexual Assault Awareness 3
and Prevention Month provides a special oppor-4
tunity— 5
(i) to educate the people of the United 6
States about sexual violence; and 7
(ii) to encourage— 8
(I) the prevention of sexual as-9
sault; 10
(II) improvement in the treat-11
ment of survivors of sexual assault; 12
and 13
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR179.ATS SR179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•SRES 179 ATS
(III) the prosecution of perpetra-1
tors of sexual assault; 2
(B) it is appropriate to properly acknowl-3
edge survivors of sexual assault and to com-4
mend the volunteers and professionals who as-5
sist those survivors in their efforts to heal; 6
(C) national and community organizations 7
and private sector supporters should be recog-8
nized and applauded for their work in— 9
(i) promoting awareness about sexual 10
assault; 11
(ii) providing information and treat-12
ment to survivors of sexual assault; and 13
(iii) increasing the number of success-14
ful prosecutions of perpetrators of sexual 15
assault; and 16
(D) public safety, law enforcement, and 17
health professionals should be recognized and 18
applauded for their hard work and innovative 19
strategies to ensure perpetrators of sexual as-20
sault are held accountable; and 21
(2) the Senate supports the goals and ideals of 22
National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention 23
Month. 24
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR179.ATS SR179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS