The increasing number of sexual assaults happening in our military is absolutely unacceptable. We must do better for our brothers and sisters in arms to hold rapists accountable and stop these assaults from happening in the first place.

Harmony Allen from Port St. Lucie is one of the veterans I am working with on this issue. Harmony was raped by her instructor during just her third month in the Air Force, and it took her fighting for more than 16 years to get her rapist convicted and put behind bars.

But less than three years later - after just a tiny fraction of his sentence - Harmony’s convicted rapist was set free because of an appeals court ruling that effectively changed the law after the fact to impose a 5 year statute of limitations. He was and still is guilty - as judged by a jury of his peers - but the court decided that didn’t matter, and he was instead set free on a technicality.

This is absolutely contrary to Congress’ intent and is a massive miscarriage of justice. So, this week Harmony and I introduced Harmony’s Law to ensure that the rule of law is followed and these rapists stay behind bars.

Thanks to Harmony’s bravery and hard work, we have the opportunity to act quickly to prevent the potential release of hundreds of convicted rapists from prison. The bottom line is this: Congress’s intention - and the law - is that there should be no statute of limitations for rape in the military. Our bill will make it very clear to the Supreme Court that Congress does not want these rapists released from jail.

Together, I believe we can make sure this type of injustice never happens again.