Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Wednesday urged colleagues to include strong measures to help sexual assault victims in the military as part of the next major defense bill.

“As you prepare the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, I strongly urge you to include additional legislation to ensure justice for victims of sexual assault in the military and to prevent these horrific acts against service members in the future," the Nevada Democrat wrote.

The letter, addressed to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and top Republican James Inhofe, R-Okla., is a response to Tuesday's Pentagon report that found sexual assaults reported by members of the militarywere up 6 percent over 2011.

A survey of personnel who could remain anonymous found that number of incidents could be as many as 26,000 annually, or 70 every day.

The figure comes from a survey that had replies from 22,792 active-duty military personnel, or 2 percent of the active-duty military strength.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opened the Senate session Monday by urging Republicans to name negotiators and start work on a budget deal.

Republicans have balked, saying they want some agreement on how the talks might proceed.

Reid began the Senate session, the first after a nine-day recess, noting of the sequester, "Democrats and Republicans voted for these arbitrary cuts and Democrats and Republicans will have to work together to reverse them.

"Why are my Republican colleagues so afraid?" the Nevada Democrat asked. "We know the two sides won't agree on every aspect of the budget. We know finding common ground won't be easy, but we can get it done."

Reid's bid to get GOP negotiators named fell short, since no Republicans were present on the floor. He said he'd bring the matter up again soon.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Wednesday pushed his plan to stop the automatic federal spending cuts that went into effect last month. But it was uncertain, and increasingly unlikely, the Senate will act until next month.

Reid made his case in his opening remarks to the Senate.

"We have seen the devastating impacts of these arbitrary budget cuts. Now it’s time to stop them," he said.  "Last night I introduced legislation that would roll back the sequester for the rest of the year. This bill would give Democrats and Republicans time to sit down at the negotiating table and work out an agreement to reduce the deficit in a balanced way."

Reid would pay for the restoration of funding with savings from the windown of the wars Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Before Republicans dismiss these savings, they should recall that 235 House Republicans voted to use these funds to pay for the Ryan Republican budget. They didn’t consider it a gimmick when it served their own purposes," Reid, D-Nevada, said.

As airline flights got backed up in New York, Charlotte, and Southern California Monday, lawmakers in Washington were quick to lay the blame on the sequestration-mandated furlough of thousands of  Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control personnel.

"The Obama Administration's failure to plan for sequestration is simply irresponsible," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said in a written statement. "According to the FAA's own Administrator last week, these furloughs are unnecessary because the agency has the authority and flexibility to move funds from other accounts. Yet instead of protecting travelers from unnescessary delays, President Obama and his cabinet are making American families pay the price for their poor planning."

The comments Blunt and other Republicans Monday come after many Republican leaderes accused the White House of exaggerating the impact of sequester-mandated cuts on the everyday lives of Americans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., indicated that the White House claims were no bluff, as seen by the number planes slow to pull out of their gates Monday. "In airports across the country, millions of Americans will gett their first taste of the pain of sequestration," Reid said.

"Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that, starting this week, thousands of flights every day will be delayed by up to three hours," Reid said. "Because of the devastating, arbitrary cuts of sequestration, the FAA is forced to furlough tens of thousands of workers. The furloughs could lead to 6,700 delayed flights every day this summer."

But were Monday's flights seuqester-related? No and yes, said Katie Connell, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, an industry group.

"We are seeing some sequester-related delays in the New York area, combined with some weather (winds)," Connell said in an email interview. "We are also seeing some minor sequester-related delays in Southern California, but they are not significant."

Late Monday afternoon Connell added: "There are now Ground Delay Programs in place at all three New York City area airports, in part due to weather (wind) and controller staffing. Charlotte now has a Ground Delay Program in place due to staffing, with an average delay wait of about 20 minutes. There are other delays occurring in Denver and Minneapolis due to snow."

The Senate will put aside gun control legislation for awhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.

"I've spoken with the president. He and I agree that the best way to keep working toward passing a background check bill is to hit a pause and freeze the background check bill," Reid, D-Nevada, told Senate colleagues.

He insisted the bill will be back, and senators will once again be allowed to offer amendments. He gave no timetable.

"We're going to have time to work on what people want to do before we come back to this," he said. "And it will give  opponents an opportunity to decide what they want to do when we get back on this."

And, he added, "it will give antigun advocates time to make their voices heard by Republican senators."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has long been a gun rights supporter, but said Wednesday he'll back the assault weapons ban up for a Senate vote later today.

"I will vote for the ban because maintaining law and order is more important than satisfying conspiracy theorists who believe in black helicopters and false flags," he told Senate collagues. "And I will vote for the ban because saving the lives of young police officers and innocent civilians is more important than preventing imagined tyranny."

Reid noted, "I am a strong supporter of Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. That’s how I earned a B grade from the National Rifle Association. When I was a 12-year-old little boy in Searchlight, Nevada, my parents sent away for a 12-gauge shotgun from the Sears catalogue. And I carried a handgun when I served on the Capitol Police force," Reid recalled. 

"Where I come from, people own guns as a matter of course for self-defense and for hunting," said the Nevada Democrat, "but I have always had trouble understanding why people need assault weapons to hunt or to protect their homes.

"When the assault weapons ban came before the Senate for a vote in 1993 I called my friends in Nevada to ask their opinion on the legislation. One friend said he believed it was impossible to define what an assault weapon was. That seemed reasonable to me, and so I voted against the ban."

Here's more from his Senate speech:

The Senate plans to begin voting at 4 p.m. Wednesday on nine amendments to its gun safety bill, amendments that deal with a wide range of gun control and gun rights issues.

Each vote will last 10 minutes, and there will be two minutes of debate equally divided between each side before each vote.

It's not clear when a final vote on the bill will be taken.

First vote is expected to come on a stronger background check measure, a compromise pushed by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

Then will come amendments on gun traffricking, extending conceald carry laws, banning assault weapons, limiting the size of magazine clips and more.

     The Senate plans a vote Thursday at 11 a.m. on whether to cut off debate on the effort to proceed to gun control legislation.

      If it gets the required 60 votes, considered likely, "there's no reason not to start legislation," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Wednesday. If the vote succeeds, there could still be 30 hours of debate.

      Reid hoped not. "I hope we don't have to go through this procedural mishmash," he said. "Somebody has something to say, come say it."

       Next would come amendments, on an assault weapons ban, restricting magazine clips and more. That process is expected to take about two more weeks. The first amendment will involve the compromise on background checks announced Wednesday.

           Reid was not concerned with how long the process takes. The key, he said, is "Are we going to legislate the right way?"

The Senate returned Monday from a two week spring recess, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid kicked off the week by vowing a full debate on gun control measure.

"In the wake of last year’s terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut – a mass shooting that claimed the lives of 20 boys and girls and six educators – I promised to bring anti-violence measures to the Senate floor," he said. "It is time Congress engaged in a meaningful conversation and a thoughtful debate over how to change the laws and culture that have allowed violence to grow."

The Senate is debating whether to proceed to the bill. Votes are expected to begin later this week, and any final votes are unlikely until later this month.

Reid vowed, "Every idea should be on the table and every issue should get a vote – from better mental health treatment and more secure schools to stronger background checks for gun buyers and a ban on assault weapons."

He acknowledged "There are strong feelings and deep disagreements about some of these measures. But every one of these measures deserves a vote.  And there is no better place than the United States Senate to begin a national conversation about such critical issues – even if they are divisive issues."

Some Republicans have threatened a filibuster, but not all have said they'll join.

"We should not stifle debate, run from tough issues or avoid difficult choices.  This body – the world’s greatest deliberative body – has a proud tradition of such robust and constructive debate," Reid insisted.

Here's the rest of Reid's remarks:

Five Republican senators Friday vowed to oppose any legislation that would 'infringe on the American people's constitutional right to bear arms."

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, they vowed to oppose consideration of any bill that "will serve as a vehicle for any gun restrictions."

 The Senate is expected to take up gun control legislation when it returns from a spring recess during the week of April 8.

“Instead of promoting legislation that will only infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens, the President should focus on enforcing the laws that are already in place,” said  Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

Others joining him are Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Marco Rubio of Florida.

To read the letter: http://inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=9021e0e2-be0b-4ee9-86d4-bdb472d7c6db