Bacon Has History of Combatting Military Sexual Assault

Omaha, Neb. – When Congressman Don Bacon (NE-02) took on the assignment of Commander for Ramstein Air Base in Germany in 2008, he knew he would have to tackle head-on the high number of sexual assault allegations at the base. He immediately instituted a program to address the crimes, and it was later ranked by the Air Force as the number one sexual assault response program. Rep. Bacon continues to combat military sexual assault through his legislative work with Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and as a member of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors.

In February of 2020, Rep. Bacon teamed with Rep. Speier to introduce bipartisan legislation to establish a “Safe to Report” policy across the military. This legislation would empower survivors of sexual violence to report these incidents by ensuring that they will not be charged with minor included offenses such as underage drinking or violating curfew, unless aggravating circumstances exist.

Rep. Bacon was inspired by an Airman stationed at Offutt Air Force Base who had reached out to him during his first term to discuss the punishment she received for underage drinking, when she reported being the victim of sexual assault.

“During my first year in the House, a constituent reached out to share with me how she had been sexually assaulted by a fellow Airman and had received a collateral misconduct charge for drinking while a minor,” said Rep. Bacon. “I was outraged to hear that she had been re-victimized and offered to reach out to the new base commander for her, to ask him to review the case. He agreed it was an improper charge and rescinded it.”

The legislation, H.R.  5738, was amended into the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which passed the House in July and is now being reconciled with the companion bill in the Senate.

As a member of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, Rep. Bacon was also vocal about the need for this policy. In 2018 the Academy instituted a similar directive to encourage sexual assault reporting by reducing the fear of retaliation and ostracism for victims of criminal misconduct.  After extensive discussions with Academy leadership, Rep. Bacon believed this policy should be standardized across the armed forces.

Previous pieces of legislation tackling military sexual assault co-sponsored by Rep. Bacon include H.R. 4203, the Combat Online Predators Act, H.R. 1035, the Extending Justice for Sex Crime Victims Act of 2017, H.R. 909, the Pet and Women Safety Act of 2017, and H.R. 2052, the PRIVATE Act.

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