This is not an official government website.
© 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Congressional Daily Record
This section is a tribute, commemoration, or district-facing statement.
Issued
April 28, 2026
senate side of the record
People
0
No members linked from this section
Legislation
0
No linked legislation in this section
Committees
0
No linked committees in this section
Senate Holds
0
No hold activity linked here
Source Document
Connected Data
This section does not yet have linked people, bills, or committees in the reader view.
Source Control
Reader mode is for comprehension. The linked government PDF is the official published source.
Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextSENATE RESOLUTION 693—RECOGNIZING AND SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS
OF NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS AND PREVENTION MONTH
Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mrs. Shaheen) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
S. Res. 693
Whereas the Senate is committed to the awareness,
prevention, and deterrence of sexual violence affecting
individuals in the United States;
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men experience sexual or
physical violence, or stalking, by an intimate partner;
Whereas, according to the 2024 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 532,228 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 3
men who have experienced a completed or attempted 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 Defense
estimates that approximately 29,061 members of the Armed
Forces, including approximately 15,201 women and 13,860 men,
experienced some form of contact or penetrative sexual
assault during 2023;
Whereas, in fiscal year 2024, the Department of Defense
received 8,195 reports of sexual assault involving members of
the Armed Forces, including 5,169 unrestricted reports of
sexual assault and 6,973 reports of incidents occurring
during military service;
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
understand the impact of sexual violence on communities of
color;
Whereas studies have suggested that the rate at which
American Indians and Alaska Natives experience sexual
violence 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 emotional
costs, sexual assault has numerous adverse consequences,
which can include post-traumatic stress disorder, substance
abuse, major depression, homelessness, eating disorders, and
suicide;
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 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 survivors of rape in
the United States;
Whereas many sexual assaults are not reported to law
enforcement agencies, and many States have restrictive
criminal statutes of limitations, which enable many
perpetrators 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
prevent 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 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
centers, State coalitions against sexual assault, culturally
specific sexual assault organizations, and nonprofit
organizations 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 professionals,
public health workers, educators, first responders, 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 referred 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 1,100 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 average;
Whereas the Department of Defense provides the Safe
Helpline, Safe HelpRoom, and Safe Helpline mobile
application, 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 2026 is recognized as “National Sexual
Assault Awareness and Prevention Month”: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That—
(1) it is the sense of the Senate that—
(A) National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month
provides a special opportunity—
(i) to educate the people of the United States about sexual
violence; and
(ii) to encourage—
(I) the prevention of sexual assault;
(II) improvement in the treatment of survivors of sexual
assault; and
(III) the prosecution of perpetrators of sexual assault;
(B) it is appropriate to properly acknowledge survivors of
sexual assault and to commend the volunteers and
professionals who assist those survivors in their efforts to
heal;
(C) national and community organizations and private sector
supporters should be recognized and applauded for their work
in—
(i) promoting awareness about sexual assault;
(ii) providing information and treatment to survivors of
sexual assault; and
(iii) increasing the number of successful prosecutions of
perpetrators of sexual assault; and
(D) public safety, law enforcement, and health
professionals should be recognized and applauded for their
hard work and innovative strategies to ensure perpetrators of
sexual assault are held accountable; and
(2) the Senate supports the goals and ideals of National
Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.