30 GOP Senators Vote to Defend Gang Rape

[Ladywriter 7,783]

A new low, by any account.

It is stunning that 30 Republican members of the United States Senate would vote to protect a corporation, in this case Halliburton/KBR, over a woman who was gang raped. The details from Think Progress

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and "warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job." (Jones was not an isolated case.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.

Offering Ms. Jones legal relief was Senator Al Franken of Minnesota who offered an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court."

Seems simple enough. And yet, to GOP Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama allowing victims of sexual assault a day in court is tantamount to a "political attack" at Halliburton. That 29 others, all men, chose to join him in opposing the Franken amendment is simply mind-boggling.

Here are those who vote to protect a corporation over a victim of rape:

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)

In the debate, Senator Sessions maintained that Franken's amendment overreached into the private sector and suggested that it violated the due process clause of the Constitution.

To which, Senator Franken fired back quoting the Constitution. "Article 1 Section 8 of our Constitution gives Congress the right to spend money for the welfare of our citizens. Because of this, Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote, 'Congress may attach conditions on the receipt of federal funds and has repeatedly employed that power to further broad policy objectives,'" Franken said. "That is why Congress could pass laws cutting off highway funds to states that didn't raise their drinking age to 21. That's why this whole bill [the Defense Appropriations bill] is full of limitations on contractors -- what bonuses they can give and what kind of health care they can offer. The spending power is a broad power and my amendment is well within it."

God I love it when Senator Franken quotes the Constitution. Not every Republican was so clueless. Ten voted for the Franken amendment including the GOP's female contingent of Senators (Snowe, Collins, Hutchinson and Murkowski).

"We need to put assurances into the law that those kind of instances [the Jamie Leigh Jones case] are not capable of being repeated," said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted in favor of Franken's amendment. "I want to make sure that a woman, any individual who is a victim of a terrible act, knows that they have got protections."

Murkowski said that she considered the arguments that Sessions made about the amendment being too expansive before she decided to vote for the legislation.

"I looked at it," said Murkowski. "And, I tell you, you look at some of the things we do and you have to say, 'OK, you have a specific instance we're trying to address and does this go above and beyond?' But when you have to err on the side of protecting an individual, I erred on the side of greater generosity, I guess."

Republican Sen. George LeMieux of Florida echoed some of Murkowski's sentiments.

"I can't see in any circumstance that a woman who was a victim of sexual assault shouldn't have her right to go to court," LeMieux said. "So, that is why I voted for it."

Although Franken chatted up LeMieux on the Senate floor before the vote, LeMieux said that he had already made his decision. But, LeMieux added, Franken's talk didn't hurt.

"I had decided to vote for it before I came here, but I was happy to hear his argument for it," LeMieux said. "He did what a senator should do, which was he was working it. He was working for his amendment." I'll add, Al Franken is everything a United States Senator should be.

As for Jamie Leigh Jones, she was nothing but elated and thankful. "It means the world to me," Jones said of the amendment's passage. "It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it."

And for the GOP, it is a new low.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q5kVbiWnAQ]YouTube - The Drugging And Gang Rape Of A KBR Employee! Senator Al Franken[/ame]

[Khellendross 1,260]

We should, as a people, dissolve the GoP. A good chunk of the party rides the coattails of morality and righteousness and God and Protecting the American people. And then they go and do something like this.

[Ladywriter 7,783]

It is disturbing that John McCain's name appears on the list of 30 senators that deserve to be voted out of office. Imagine if this lunatic had won the presidential election.

It's more then unfortunate the repug party has become what they are, but dissolution is impossible with so many followers. Most of these people claim to be "good Christians" yet they vote to protect corporations instead of people (so do conserve-a-Dems), have rape victims pay for their own kits, and would deny them an abortion if the victim became prego as a result of the assault (repugs are pro lifers).

With so many "good Christians" supporting these policies I can only conclude that all Christians are small minded, hateful, misogynists therefore not just the repug party needs to go, so does all of Christianity as these elected by Christians Christian officials are voting in the way that represents their barbaric religion instead of logic, reason and compassion.

Religion has no place in politics. People are capable of being moral without it.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phKqEe4ZRYg]YouTube - Republicans Oppose Al Franken's Law on Protecting Victims of Gang Rape[/ame]

[Ladywriter 7,783]

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/155116824

Dear Senator,

I am appalled that you joined 29 of your male Republican colleagues in voting against Senator Al Franken's Defense Appropriations amendment that would prohibit federal defense contractors like Halliburton/KBR from getting money "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court."

Senator Franken's floor speech referenced the story of Jamie Leigh Jones, who was gang-raped by her coworkers at Halliburton/KBR but was unable to bring charges in court because her employment contract stipulated sexual assault allegations could only be addressed in private.

This amendment was an important step in giving rights to rape victims -- and I am appalled that you would oppose it. This is taking obstructionism too far.

[Your comment here]

Sincerely,

[Your name here]