Speaker Pelosi Joins Colleagues To Raise Awareness about the I Am Vanessa Guillén Act

We are here to ensure that Vanessa Guillen did not die in vain. We are joined by Vanessa's sisters Maya and Lupe, fierce advocates for reforming how the military handles sexual assault and sexual harassment. I'm honored that we're joined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith, and my House colleagues Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, and Congressman Jason Crow. Just over one year ago, we lost Specialist Vanessa Guillen to a horrific crime that was compounded by multiple staggering failures in the U.S. Army. Since we gathered here together last fall, we know much more about the depths and breadths of this failure thanks to two thorough blistering investigations, the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee and the Army's Command Investigation. These reports found a broken and toxic culture where sexual harassment and assault were rampant and tolerated. Service members were afraid to report sexual violence for fear of retaliation and criminal investigators were under-experienced, under-resourced, and over-matched. Senior leadership was also incapable or unwilling to take charge, to take responsibility, and to communicate effectively with their own soldiers, the Guillen family, and the broader community. Specialist Vanessa Guillen's fellow soldiers reported to her command that she was being sexually harassed by her platoon sergeant, yet her command chose to do nothing to investigate the harassment, nothing to discipline the platoon sergeant for harassment and merely moved him to another unit where he could victimize others. And the soldier who murdered Vanessa was insufficiently guarded despite being a prime murder suspect and was able to escape confinement and killed himself, endangering countless others. Mind you, after the murder of Vanessa, a sexual harassment victim at another installation came forward reporting that Vanessa's killer had harassed her, but she was too afraid to come forward. A number of us returned for a second visit to Fort Hood last week. What my colleagues and I have learned in the last six to eight months has reinforced our understanding that major transformational change is needed, not only in the military justice system, but also in the culture and command climate in the military. Vanessa's grisly murder awakened Congress. A strong bipartisan coalition of members have made it clear. The clock has run out on the Department of Defense half measures and a minority of those on Capitol Hill who still defer to the military to somehow fix this problem. We must act to take sexual violence cases out of the chain of command, empower independent military prosecutors to make charging decisions. We must act to ensure that sexual harassment investigators and investigations are conducted by experienced professionals who are outside the chain of command. We must act to provide compensation to service members who experience sexual violence due to the negligence of the military. We must act to restructure the Army's sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention and response programs. We must act to re-envision the Army's Criminal Investigation Division as a high-performing, well-resourced, elite organization that swiftly, professionally, and effectively investigates crimes. A bar that its sister services have passed for years. We must act to ensure that no more soldiers meet the fate of Vanessa Guillen and that no other families are forced to suffer the incomprehensible pain and trauma that her family has endured. With that, it's my great honor to introduce the Speaker of the House and one of the biggest supporters of this effort, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Let us thank Jackie Speier for her extraordinary leadership. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Jackie Speier, for bringing us together. Your remarks said it all. I associate myself with your remarks. I commend you for your dedication and determination on this past year to make sure we have a chance to vote for legislation, the important legislation. I am Vanessa Guillen Act and I thank you. I thank you for helping us all keep our promise we made a year ago to the family that we would have legislation and it would make a difference. Thank you, Jackie Speier, for your leadership in that regard and in so many regards. I'm honored to be here with the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee. This is a big honor for all of us. Sylvia Garcia will be joining us. Vanessa is her constituent, her family are her constituents. Verona Escobar, Jason Crowe is joining us, and Jimmy Panetta. Here they are now, all here now. Jimmy Panetta, thank you, and of course we are the VIPs with us today are Myra and Lupe and the Guillen family. Last fall when we met with the family, we saw their courage in action that turned their pain into progress and Vanessa's memory was making a difference. The Congress remains heartbroken. This is a tragedy. It's just to hear the story and the frustration of it all that there was a chance to make stop this from happening, not only to Vanessa but to others. We're heartbroken and outraged at the murder of U.S. Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen. Justice is needed for Vanessa and for the many service members facing an epidemic of sexual harassment and assault in our armed forces too often in the shadows. That is why, Speaker, I'm proud to support Jackie Speier's I am Vanessa Guillen Act to stand with victims, survivors, and families to combat sexual assault in the military. This bipartisan bill overhauls the military's response to missing service members and reports sexual harassment and assault and will make a strong step closer to ensuring that no service member or family will ever have to endure such horror. This was a natural thing for Jackie because she, Congresswoman Speier, Madam Chair, she's been working on this issue of just eliminating, fighting sexual harassment and assault in the military in her whole time in Congress from day one. Again, last fall, under her leadership, we gave our commitment to Vanessa's family that this important first step to combating sexual assault would come to the House floor for a vote. Led by Jackie Speier, we will not stop until we pass the bill and until we finally fully end this epidemic in the military, in the workplace, and in all places. And now it's my honor to yield to the champion of America's troops and our security. He helps us honor our oath to protect and defend our distinguished chair of the Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith. Mr. Chairman. Well, thank you. First of all, I want to thank the Guillen family, not just for being here today, but for their courage over the course of the last year to take up this issue and truly make a difference, certainly to find justice for Vanessa, but also to protect others. It cannot be easy to have to go through the incredible personal trauma they've gone through and then to have to share it with everybody and relive it and work on it every day. But they know the differences that's going to make for the service members in our country. And I want to thank them for their courage, their leadership. I've met with them a couple of times. They are incredibly well-spoken on this issue. I really thank them for their leadership. I also want to thank Jackie Speer, her leadership on the committee for a long time. She has been a bulldog on this issue, pushing the envelope, making the change, putting pressure on the Department of Defense to address the sexual assault issue. And this is a huge problem for our troops and for our service members. When you look at Fort Hood and the number of service members who have met violent deaths of one kind or another, suffered sexual harassment, and it's not just at Fort Hood. There was a big story at Fort Bragg as well. Something is fundamentally wrong with the way the Department of Defense is taking care of the men and women that we are asking to protect us. And that must change. No one piece of legislation is going to change this, but the legislation that Jackie has put forward gives us our best shot. By taking the authority to investigate and prosecute these cases out of the command structure, it gives us an opportunity to have the independence necessary to focus the importance of this issue in the military. It is clear at this point that the commanders have not been able to do that for whatever reason. We need this level of dramatic change. And I was heartened to see the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley, endorse this proposal. I've spoken to the Secretary of Defense, Secretary Austin. The independent review that they're doing is coming out strongly in favor of the move in this direction. I think that's a necessary step. But I do want to point out that that's not enough. The culture within the military must fundamentally change in the way that we protect our troops, in the way that we create an atmosphere where sexual harassment and sexual assault are simply not tolerated. That is not the current atmosphere. That must change. This bill is an important part of the process, but there is more that needs to be done. I just want to conclude by thanking other members of the committee, in particular Veronica Escobar, who was here. Veronica has been a tremendous leader on this issue, and we've had a number of other members of the committee. I know Jason Crow, Jimmy Panetta are here as well. There are members of this committee who have been focused on this issue for a long time. We are making progress. There's a lot more to be done, and this bill is a crucial step in that process. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Now we're going to hear from the two sisters of Vanessa Guillen, Maya and Lupe Guillen. Hello, and thank you everyone for being here today. Today's a very important day for us, especially for my entire family. I know mom and dad are sitting right now watching this, and you know, it's hard for me to stand here today knowing that my mom isn't doing so well, but we have to advocate for Vanessa. We have to advocate for all those military members that are still suffering and have suffered because of the sexual harassment and abuse that's been going on in our military. And you know, just to think that Vanessa caused all this movement, caused all this change. It deeply saddens me because she's not here today with us, and the circumstances that led up to us advocating for something that I never imagined in my life doing so. But we're here today and we're here stronger than ever, and I need justice to be served for my sister, for my family, and for all those military members that continue to suffer because of this abuse that there is in the military which shouldn't be there. I was so honored to have a sister to wear her uniform every day and see her come back home and tell me about how her day or how her week at work was, and I miss that. You know, it's no longer there, but we're here to assure that her name won't be ever forgotten, and that this change needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. First and foremost, I want to say thank you to everyone for being here. I know Congresswoman Spears has been working for years and she has never stopped, so thank you for everything. Thank you, Speaker Pelosi, Garcia, everyone who is members of Congress. Thank you for being here today. It's hard for for us to be here today standing and advocating for my sister, but I said sexual violence is like a virus. It does not discriminate gender, race, or personal beliefs. That's why now it's considered an epidemic of sexual violence in the military. Women and men who are wearing their uniform shouldn't be afraid of anyone or anything because they're taking a bullet for this country. My sister was brutally murdered and sexually harassed, and we must fight against that because we don't want another Ayan Vanessa Guillén out there. We must act against this issue and pass the Ayan Vanessa Guillén Act because I said this is not a political issue. It is not a race issue, not a gender issue, because it happens to both men and women, and it happens to all of us at one point in life. So this act will bring the help that my sister needed, the voice that my sister needed, because I said we must be the voice to the voiceless and bring the change together as human beings. We must come together and protect those who protect us. So we must be the voice, be the change, and honor my sister because no one deserves to die the way she died. No one deserves to suffer the way my sister suffered. No one. So please advocate for this legislation because we must save those who are saving our lives, our troops. Thank you. The congresswoman who represented Vanessa Guillén represents the Guillén family, Sylvia Garcia. Thank you Chairwoman Spears and Madam Speaker, and I know Chairman Smith is left probably to vote. I do apologize to the Guillén family for being a little late, but I was voting. This is a great day, and it's an important step in bringing justice for Vanessa Guillén, and it's also, of course, much needed reform in the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of sexual harassment in the military. I am proud of all the work that Chairwoman Spears has done, and I thank her deeply for allowing me to be the interloper in the group because she's allowed me to be in all her hearings. I've been twice already with her to Fort Hood, and she's made me a real partner in making sure that we get justice for my constituent Vanessa Guillén. Vanessa was the daughter of immigrants whose only dream was to serve her country, and yet she, and she alone, together with all her supporters and her family, have forced the most powerful military force in this country to take note, to try to do better, and together working with them, we will make sure that we can. From the very beginning, I've said that we must get justice for Vanessa Guillén, so this bill takes us one step closer. No soldier or family should go through the suffering and pain that this family has. We need to make sure that Fort Hood does take notice, and I can tell you that last week when we were there, we were very encouraged. There is a commitment to change. There is a commitment to make sure that the soldier is the biggest priority with their People First program, but there's a lot of work to be done because it's a culture, and as the chairman said earlier, it's not just in the Army, not just at Fort Hood. We need to make this change throughout the military and throughout every single installation, not only here in the United States, but abroad. So a lot of work needs to be done, and we will continue to make sure that our troops are protected and that they feel safe when they file a complaint about sexual harassment or sexual assault. Perpetrators must be held accountable for their actions, and I want the Guillén family to know that we will continue the fight to make sure that the Vanessa Guillén bill becomes law. It was her dream, but today I have called on the most powerful military in the world to make change and better change. From the beginning, I said that we wanted justice for Vanessa, and this bill is a step. No family soldier in our country should go through this situation. We have advanced in the improvement of the Army's policies, but we still have a lot more to do. We will continue to work to ensure that our soldiers are protected. I want the Guillén family to know that we are here to support them, and we are here fighting for this project to be law. So thank you very much, and God bless you. Next, we'll hear from the Vice Chair of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. También les quiero dar las gracias a mis colegas, especialmente, específicamente, Speaker Pelosi y representante Jackie Speier, las líderes que están trayendo estos reformas y estos cambios que son tan necesarios. You know, the status quo that currently exists in the U.S. military is unacceptable, and I have learned over the course of my tenure in Congress that changes that have been promised historically, small changes that have been made periodically have been unacceptable and have not proven to make any significant change in the lives of the members of our military. What the I am Vanessa Guillén bill represents, finally, is an opportunity to make true changes and lasting reforms, and I'm a proud co-sponsor. I'm very proud of the work that we are doing on the Military Personnel Subcommittee under the leadership of Chairwoman Jackie Speier. We have much more work to do, and this bill, frankly, is only the beginning. As my colleague Sylvia Garcia mentioned, there is a culture inside the military that has to change, and reforming the processes and the systems in place can begin to attack the problem, but we still have to change the culture within the institution. That means a lot more work, that means a lot more collaboration, and it also means being willing to take the risk on bold changes, sweeping changes, like what we are seeing in the Vanessa Guillén bill. I'm very grateful to the family for always being willing to step up and fight for their daughter and sister's legacy, but also the work that they're willing to put in to make sure that others never have to experience what they've experienced, and so I'm very grateful to them. Next we'll hear from Congressman Jason Crow, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and one of the members of the CODEL that made the first visit to Fort Hood. Thank you to Jackie Speier for your leadership. This is the result of so many years of work and just dogged determination to impact change, and we all follow in your footsteps. And to all the co-sponsors of this legislation on both sides of the aisle, and to the Guillén family, the U.S. military and the Army failed your family. There's no other way to put that. And you will always have my thoughts, and you will always have my prayers, but I am not a priest, and I am not a philosopher. I am a member of Congress. I'm a legislator, and my obligation is to legislate and to try to make policy that will prevent this from ever happening again. I come at this issue probably more as a soldier than I do as a member of Congress. I actually often think about that time when I stepped off the bus at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, as a private, and the drill sergeants descended on me, and they taught me everything from how to make my bed, how to shoot a rifle, how to march the chain of command. But what we didn't spend time on is how to prevent sexual assault, how to build trust, how to respect each other appropriately and be the diverse force and military that our country demands and deserves. And that's what this is about. Because let's not forget that it's the United States Congress that has the power and the authority to decide what type of military our nation will have. And that's why we are here. The military had its opportunity. There are now over 20,000 reported incidents of sexual assault and sexual violence a year in our military. They have failed. We are stepping up, and we will continue to fight until we solve this problem. Not just because the Guillen family deserves it, which you do, but all the families of our sons and daughters who currently serve do, and our nation does. We cannot be an effective military and one based on trust with the current crisis that we have. So we'll continue to work together to solve this issue, and I thank you all for being here. And finally, we're going to hear from the attorney for the Guillen family, Natalie Guam. Everyone, thank you today for coming. I represent the Guillen family, and we have had a long year. We went from, she was never sexually harassed to, Mayor Coppa, you're right, she was sexually harassed. We just didn't want to disclose that. We've seen this case change, shift. People taking accountability. People running away from the truth. And we're here to tell the truth. And the truth is, we need this bill passed. This will save thousands of lives. It'll save so much heartache for our families of the military. And this all couldn't happen, I gotta tell you, without Congresswoman Jackie Speier. I mean, she is the champion here. A couple years ago, when I came to her with another soldier that I represented, Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskill, who's a dying Green Beret, she stepped up and she had the Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskill Military Medical Accountability Act passed. First time in 52 years. And I believe that Jackie Speier, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, will get this bill passed. And I believe our military will be in a better position. As my partner Alan earlier said to me, this takes out the abusive people. This takes out the bad apples. And it will allow for accountability. And we need accountability in our military. Because our soldiers deserve better. We are a superpower. We are the greatest country in the world, the greatest military in the world. And we gotta continue striving to be the best. And having the Aya Vanessa Guillen bill passed will allow all our soldiers to know that they are safe, and they can trust the system. They can come forward. Because who wants to go to work knowing that they're going to get sexually harassed or sexually molested? That's not fair for anyone trying to do their job, especially trying to serve our country. And I want to thank again, not only Congresswoman Jackie Speier, but Chairman Adam Smith for coming and supporting this. And Nancy Pelosi or Speaker Pelosi, Congresswoman Escobar, Congressman Crowell, everyone here that came. And I want to thank you everyone for covering this, the importance of this tragedy so it never happens again. So that way Vanessa's death, that murder she experienced in the Army room will never happen again. Thank you. All right. We can answer any questions you have. Yes. No, we're working closely together. We certainly feel very strongly that these cases have to be taken out of the chain of command. And I'm confident that what is put into the NDAA will be compatible. They're actually quite similar. The Senator's bill takes in all non-military crimes. So it's just not crimes of sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence. It takes in all non-military crimes. Our bill creates a crime of sexual harassment. Her bill does not. Our bill takes the recommendations from the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee and incorporates them. The issues around the proper staffing of the Criminal Investigation Division, the proper process by which they would operate, the proper tools that they need. It also provides that there is a compensation claims process available to victims. So all in all, they're compatible pieces of legislation. Yes. Sexual harassment, about 25% of women and some percentage of men that's less than that, by virtue of the various climate surveys we do, establish that they are sexually harassed. Only 1% of them report. Only 1%. We know at the military academies, 50% of the female cadets are sexually harassed. The incidence of sexual assault, both at the academies and in the military, continues to be a profound problem. Congressman Crowe mentioned that there were 20,000. These are men and women who are sexually assaulted in the military every year. Only about 7,000 of them report. The reason why the vast majority, two-thirds of them really, do not report is for fear of retaliation. That's why Vanessa didn't report. That is something that goes to the cultural rot and the fact that the chain of command has never seriously taken these cases the way they should. The commanders don't have legal training, so they shouldn't be making decisions about whether or not to prosecute a sexual assault. So this is a strong bipartisan bill and Mark Wayne Mullen, who is one of the co-leads of this legislation, would have been here, but he is in a briefing that could not be moved. There are about 14 or 15 Republicans that are on the bill right now. We're just introducing it today. There are about 170 members in total, so the numbers are going to grow. I am very confident that it will be a strong bipartisan measure. Okay. The I am Vanessa Guillen. Yo soy Vanessa Guillen. Para proteger a nuestros soldados. Eso significa mucho para nosotros. Desde el 22 de abril hasta ahorita. Tenemos a gente muy poderosa ayudándonos el día de hoy y estoy agradecida por eso y vamos a seguir adelante hasta que se haga justicia y el nombre de mi hermano no queda en vano. Any other questions? Thank you all for being here and for covering this. Thank you, Sharon.