Addressing VAWA, Sen. Al Franken Breaks Down On Senate Floor |
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) broke down in tears today on the floor of the Senate while discussing the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Franken, who has been a staunch advocate for domestic violence victims, got emotional discussing women who face homelessness after being abused. “Once a woman becomes homeless, she becomes even more vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse,” he said. Watch it:
NEWS FLASH
Climate Hawk Senators Remind Washington Of Climate Crisis |
In an hour-long discussion, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) rebuked the Senate for ignoring the climate crisis. The “planetary crisis of global warming” is “not getting the serious debate and discussion it needs here in the Senate,” Sanders began. Watch:
Yesterday, Senators Al Franken (D-MN) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-MN) held an hour-long colloquy on the hard reality of climate change and the polluter-driven inaction in the U.S. Senate. They discussed not only future threats, but also the changes in severe weather and climate that are already causing havoc to our nation. Whitehouse and Franken agreed that the nation is following a dangerous path by ignoring scientists because of the pollution industry.
“Despite the efforts to mislead and create doubt, the jury is not out on whether climate change is happening and being caused by manmade carbon pollution; the verdict is, in fact, in.”
“The 25th doctor says: It is a good thing you came to me, because all this diet and exercise would have been a complete waste. You are doing fine. Those other doctors are in the pockets of the fresh fruit and vegetable people. He says: Enjoy life, eat whatever you want, keep smoking, and watch a lot of TV. That is my advice. Then you learn the doctor was paid a salary by the makers of Twinkies, which, don’t get me wrong, are a delicious snack food and should be eaten in moderation.”
“Climategate should properly be known as climategate-gate because it was the scandal that was phony.”
“We are playing with very dangerous effects when we ignore climate change at the behest of a tiny minority of scientists and their polluter industry funders behind them.”
“If we can pull away from the lies and the phony science and the polluter-paid nonsense that has so far distracted us from doing our duty as a nation, we can get into the race that is going on in this world for the energy future.”
“Fifty years ago we were in a global space race. Today we are in a global clean energy race.”
“Climate change is real, and failure to address it is bad for our standing in the global economy, bad for the Federal budget, and bad for our national security. We can do better than that for our children and our grandchildren and posterity.”
This morning, in a vote of 10 to 8, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and allow the federal government to provide benefits to couples in same-sex marriages. During the hearing, Minnesota Senator Al Franken (D) fact-checked Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) claims that marriage has always been between a man and a woman by providing a history lesson on the evolution of the institution:
FRANKEN: I just believe you misstated the history of marriage. Marriage has not existed as a union between one man and one woman for thousands of years in every culture. In many cultures, men have been able to marry many women and young girls. For centuries, women have been treated as chattel in marriage. Further, if the religious purpose for marriage is procreation, why would we sanction marriage between an 89 year-old widower and an 80 year-old widow? I just think we need to be accurate when we talk about the history of marriage, the history of man and woman, the history of our institutions.
Watch it:
The act, which has 31 co-sponsors, now moves to the Senate, where it has yet to be scheduled for a vote.
Franken Predicts Anti-Bullying Measure Will Pass With Bipartisan Support If Put To A Vote |
Yesterday, the Senate HELP Committee’s mark-up of the No Child Left Behind bill failed to consider Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) Student Non-Discrimination Act, which would establish “comprehensive federal prohibition against discrimination and bullying in public schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” In a brief statement, Franken said some senators on the committee feared the act would jeopardize bipartisan support for the entire education bill, but pledged to offer the measure on the floor of the Senate and predicted that it would pass if put to a vote. Franken went on to link his anti-bullying legislation to the civil rights laws of the 1960s and Title IX legislation, before noting that “we are faced with a group of students that is facing pervasive, systemic, discrimination” and “there is no law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in schools.” Watch it:
The committee passed the education bill in a bipartisan vote of 15-7. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), the sponsor of a similar Safe Schools Improvement Act, also offered his measure as an amendment but withdrew it before the final vote. Neither act has attracted the 60 co-sponsors necessary to withstand a filibuster in the Senate.
Here via my colleague Ali Gharib is a great interview of a David Brody softball interview asking Herman Cain if he’s ready to answer factual questions about world affairs. Given that Cain is not, in fact, prepared to answer them, he does a different job of dismissing the need to know the name of the head of state “of some of these small insignificant countries around the world” including “Ubeki-beki-beki-stan-stan.”
So, okay, Herman Cain’s not going to be president. Who cares? But it drives me nuts that the guy can get taken seriously by some conservative activists and voters without him taking the process seriously at all. The president of Uzbekistan is Islam Karimov. Maybe Cain doesn’t know. Fine. It’s a trivia question. But say, I dunno, something about American foreign policy in Central Asia. Try to demonstrate some command of the issues. But Cain is transparently running for talk radio host or something. If it wouldn’t make a good subject for a 10-minute drive time segment, he doesn’t want to talk about it.
The contrast with someone like Al Franken is, to me, telling. A comedian running for Senate naturally faces some voter skepticism even if, like Franken, he’s been politically engaged and active for years. So Franken clearly went out of his way during and after his campaign to show that he’s well-briefed and well-versed in the issues. He had a higher bar to cross than your average candidate, so he did the work to clear it. Cain, trying to leap from ex-CEO of third-rate pizza chain to president of the United States, doesn’t think he needs to do anything.
Al Franken Calls For ‘Explicit Ban’ On Discrimination Against LGBT Students |
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) “called for an ‘explicit ban’ on discrimination against LGBT students in a civil rights hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday,” the Minnesota Independent’s Andy Birkey reports. “My understanding is that LGBT persons are covered under the hate crimes act, and to the same extent that other groups like minorities and women [are],” Franken said. “This Congress has said we need to protect LGBT Americans in the same way we protect other vulnerable groups, doesn’t it follow that we should protect LGBT students from bullying to the same extent that we protect other groups?” Watch it:
NEWS FLASH
HHS Study Author: ‘Sen. Franken Is Right’ |
One of the highlights from yesterday’s hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act was when Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) called out Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery for misrepresenting a study from the Department of Health and Human Services. The study’s author, Debra L. Blackwell, confirmed to POLITICO that Franken got it right and the study did not offer any support for Minnery’s claim that opposite-sex parents are superior to same-sex parents. Watch the video of the exchange:
Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s 8:45 AM round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but let us know what you’re checking out too.
- Here’s a quick round-up of our coverage of yesterday’s hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act:
- Was Sen. Grassley Talking About Maggie Gallagher? No.
- Sen. Leahy: Are children better off off if their parents can marry? Focus on the Family: Yes.
- Sen. Franken: I frankly don’t really know how we can trust the rest of your testimony.
- Why Focus on the Family’s “fatherless” studies are a red herring.
- Sen. Schumer: Same-sex couples in New York will still face inequality after they marry.
- The Center for Military Readiness, one of the chief opponents of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’s repeal, apparently has not been managing its finances very effectively.
- An AP article about resistance to New York’s marriage equality avoids quoting one pro-gay person and refers to what would have been the “best” chance to block the new law.
The Advocate’s Andrew Harmon caught up with Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) who told him that he expects Minnesotans to narrowly defeat a ballot measure that would outlaw same-sex marriage in the state’s constitution:
HARMON: Are you confident that Minnesotans will vote against putting discrimination into the state constitution?
FRANKEN: I think we’ll win this one, but I think it will be very close. We’re a very divided state, and on this issue I don’t have the strongest sense on where it’s going to be. I know there are people who just have their views and are against marriage equality.
HARMON: Rep. Michele Bachmann being one of them.
FRANKEN: Yes, I think she’ll vote for the amendment.
Franken — a prominent supporter of LGBT equality in Congress — reiterated that he opposes Bachmann’s views on gay people, but said he liked her personally. “[W]e fly on a plane together, we’ve gone to funerals together, we’ve cried together, we’ve laughed together. Here [in Washington, D.C.,] we had a Minnesota hotdish-off — she was the only Republican who came; she wore a Twins apron. I think she was the only other member in the delegation besides me who actually made the hotdish. She made venison kielbasi, sauerkraut, and noodles, and we had a fun time.”
The Advocate’s Andrew Harmon 
