I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Wednesday, September 22nd.

Call Your Senator, our monthly call in with my questions and yours for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand,

New York's junior senator, as the

label goes, though not so junior anymore as she's been in the Senate since 2009. It's just that

Chuck Schumer has been there since the last century. There is some news this week that relates to

Senator Gillibrand's longevity every year since 2013. Some of you know this. As a member of the Armed Services

Committee, Senator Gillibrand has introduced a provision to the Pentagon budget bill to reform the

military justice system so that cases of sexual assault are adjudicated outside the chain of command.

Why? Because the commanding officers might have close ties to the

accused or might be the sexual assaulters themselves. Finally, finally, enough Republican senators

on the Armed Services Committee are agreeing to this and the provision is going to the full Senate.

But perhaps strangely, the Democratic House of Representatives, from what I read,

has a weaker version that needs to be reconciled.

So we'll talk about that.

I'm also curious how much money might come out of the defense budget to help fund the Democrats'

progressive priorities now that President Biden has ended the endless war in Afghanistan

and to reverse Donald Trump's military spending buildup.

Senator, always good to have you on. Welcome back to WNYC.

Thanks, Brian. I love being on your show.

And you're calling these the biggest reforms to the military justice system in U.S. history.

Want to explain them to everyone?

Yes, and you did a very good job yourself.

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