A recent defense spending bill (FY2010 Defense Appropriations Bill) contains an amendment, sponsored by Minnesota Democratic Senator Al Franken, that requires companies with government contracts to allow employees to seek redress in a court of law rather than be forced into private arbitration. The penalty for violating companies would be loss of all government contracts.
Minnesota junior senator Al Franken
The amendment was prompted by the plight of Jamie Leigh Jones, a former Halliburton contractor who was gang-raped by co-workers while she was on assignment in Iraq. Her contract forbade her to seek legal redress; it also required her to not disclose what happened. She ignored that requirement, and was fired.
The Senate passed the amendment 68-30. 30 senators, all Republican, voted against this particular amendment.
I’ll say it again: 30 United States senators decided that staying on Halliburton’s good list was more important than allowing Americans to seek redress in our legal system.
And, they gave tacit approval to rape.
Here are the names of those distinguished white middle-aged (or older) gentlemen:
Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Kyl (R-AZ) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS).
Here’s a lovely list of these gentlemen, with pictures and contact phone numbers.
(Note that from 11 states both senators voted against the amendment, including the last Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency.)
In addition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbied against it, and the U.S. Department of Defense conspired to stop it.
The House is now considering the appropriations bill, and Hawaii Representative Dan Inouye (of congressional Watergate investigative committee fame) is being heavily lobbied to remove or water down the amendment. Let’s see how he and the rest of the House votes.
[...] one single bill? After four years in office? Not ONE? Freshman Minnesota Senator Al Franken introduced a major amendment to a defense spending bill less than a month after being seated in the [...]