In early March, a long-awaited bill made its way to the U.S. Senate floor and then was blocked by the senate because of a lack of votes. The name of that bill was MJIA (Military Justice Improvement Act) championed by U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

But Gillibrand’s attempt for new legislation was met with denial. And now, the question is, for how long?

In a vote of 55 – 45 in favor, the lack of the remaining four votes to get a supermajority of 60 to achieve cloture on the floor is why the bill failed.

Sexual assault in the military has become a hot button issue in recent years since the 1991 Navy Tailhook scandal, the sexual assaults at Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1996, and the Air Force academy in 2003. Help from the media and the victims of sexual assault who are willing to speak out have also made the public outcry more prevalent. In response to this the U.S. Department of Defense has been conducting yearly surveys with military service members.

The most recent survey being the Fiscal Year 2012 study (the 2013 study hasn’t come out yet) shows an increased amount of active duty sexual assaults 3,374 in total compared to the 3,192 reports of assault from last fiscal years study in 2011. 26,000 service men and women responded to the survey. That means 12,100 service women and 13,900 service men out of 1.4 million plus came forward.

In percentages it’s 6.1% of women and 1.2% of men. Now despite all this data sexual assault as a whole in the military is still an underreported crime. These reports only reflect those who came forward it does not include those who didn’t so even though the study shows promising data it’s still not enough.

Some wonder what would have happened had the bill passed, and whether there is a system in place for dealing with sexual assaults in the military.

If MJIA had passed, major crimes like sexual assault would be taken outside the military chain of command.

And there is a system in place. When the senate failed to pass senator Gilibrand’s bill it voted to pass Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill’s bill which gives protections to those service men and women who decide to file a report.

Opponents of the bill say that by taking serious crimes such as sexual assault out of the chain of command it takes away the military’s ability to self discipline. Opponents include Sen. John McCain, who during debate asked “Will we hold those commanders responsible for everything that happens under their command, or will we take that responsibility and shift it to a lawyer? That’s what this is really all about.”

McCain continued, “I trust these commanders. I trust them.”

Whether or not opponents of the bill trusts the chain of command is irrelevant. It’s the victims who matter and the victims simply do not trust the chain of command.

What it comes down to is that if a military official is raped it should be addressed. It shouldn’t have to go through this process of the chain of command] and should be handled directly and appropriately as with a regular criminal case, rather than being avoided. People are taking advantage of the fact that it does go through the military’s process but at the same time the service men and women are equal as all the other American citizens if not even more important because they are sacrificing their lives, therefore that should be addressed and taken care of and [sexual assault] should not be something that’s looked the other way about.

Regardless of the defeat of the bill the senator and her supporters are not giving up. They plan to keep fighting and trying to get comprehensive reform through the senate and later congress. The question is, can the military handle such a disciplinary change if it came? We’ll just have to wait and see.