In response to several injustices done to employees companies contracted in Iraq, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) introduced a bill to defund companies that forbid employees who are raped, assaulted, or discriminated against on the job from going to court. The bill was introduced in response to what happened to Jamie Leigh Jones, one of many similar cases.
This would seem to be a bill that everyone could support, right? It allows people screwed over by their employer to get their day in court. It’s tough on crime. There’s something in it for everybody, isn’t there? You’d think that a vote on this bill would be unanimous, right.
The final vote was 68-30. Two senators, Specter (D-PA) and Byrd (D-WV), did not not vote. All other Democrats, the one independent, and ten Republicans, as well as all female senators, voted for this bill. The 30 nays were all Republican men. The nays were:
Alexander (TN), Barrasso (WY), Bond (MO), Brownback (KS), Bunning (KY), Burr (NC), Chambliss (GA), Coburn (OK), Cochran (MS), Corker (TN), Cornyn (TX), Crapo (ID), DeMint (SC), Ensign (NV), Enzi (WY), Graham (SC), Gregg (NH), Inhofe (OK), Isakson (GA), Johanns (NE), Kyl (AZ), McCain (AZ), McConnell (KY), Risch (ID), Roberts (KS), Sessions (AL), Shelby (AL), Thune (SD), Vitter (LA), and Wicker (MS).
I suppose that there might be some reason for these people to have voted against this bill. After all, it was you who was gang-raped, locked in a shipping container for over a day without food or water, and threatened with dismissal from your job if you sought help, right?
