VIDEO: Franken Wins Bipartisan Support For Legislation Reining In KBR’s Treatment Of Rape

By GottaLaff

Here's a video of someone who should have been an sworn in as senator months before he was:



I've written about Jones over and over again, distraught over what she was forced to endure and the treatment she got (unfortunately, the archives were lost when we moved to this site). This is very, very welcome news:

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed 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.” [...]

On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke against the amendment, calling it “a political attack directed at Halliburton.” Franken responded, “This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court.”

In the end, Franken won the debate. His amendment passed by a 68-30 vote, earning the support of 10 Republican senators including that of newly-minted Florida Sen. George LeMieux. [...]

Appearing with Franken after the vote, an elated Jones expressed her deep appreciation. “It means the world to me,” she 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.”

This was long overdue. Thank you, Senator Franken, Take a look at the 30 Rushpublic senators who voted against his amendment. They include Vitter, Sessions, DeMint, and, well....

... one of the stellar "'Family Values'-rape's-okay-if-it's-committed-by-special-friends" senators (h/t: John Amussen):