( CNN ) -- Representatives from both political parties on Tuesday slammed U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss after he said that hormones may be partly responsible for sexual assaults in the military . His controversial comments came during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the subject . Addressing top military officials , Chambliss , R-Georgia , said : `` The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22-23 . Gee whiz -- the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur . 2012 : Missouri Republican says `` legitimate rape '' rarely leads to pregnancy . `` So we 've got to be very careful on how we address it on our side , but guys , we 're not doing our job . You 're not doing yours , and we 're not doing ours with the rates that we are seeing on sexual assaults . `` As I said to start with , you recognize it . We recognize it , and we got to figure this thing out because we simply ca n't tolerate it . '' Military chiefs oppose removing commanders from sexual assault probes . The response was swift . Republican Rep. Mike Turner , co-chairman of the military sexual assault prevention caucus , issued a statement saying criminals , not hormones , cause sexual assaults . AC360 : War on women , or politics as usual ? `` Perpetuating this line of thinking does nothing to help change the culture of our military . We must be focused on combating this issue directly . The numbers speak for themselves , '' the Ohio representative said . Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz , D-Florida , called for Chambliss to apologize . Navy football players investigated in sex assault complaint . `` For a United States senator , or anyone , to write off sexual assault and the personal violation of a woman or a man to the raging hormones of youth shows just how dramatically out of touch the Republican Party is , '' she told MSNBC . `` I think he should think about whether if , God forbid , a sexual assault happened to a daughter of his , would he think it was OK for a senator to just chalk the assault up to raging hormones ? '' Opinion : Soldiers and sex -- can men evolve ?
Chambliss said hormones may be partly responsible for rape in the military . The Georgia senator testified in a hearing on sexual violence in the military . He was joined by representatives from both parties . Criminals , not soldiers , are the cause , said an Ohio congressman .