I removed photo of Pfc. LaVena Johnson from my blog's sidebar earlier this month. There didn't see to be much activity online or in Congress to deal with the issue of rape and sexual abuse in the military.
As such, I was glad to learn about Sen. Al Franken's (D-MN) anti-rape amendment in the defense appropriations bill. The amendment would withhold defense funding from companies barring their employees from taking sexual abuse cases to court. Franken's amendment passed the Senate on October 21, 2009 by a voting margin of 68 to 30. All 30 of the votes against the amendment came from Senate Republicans.
I guess it is no surprise that defense contractors are lobbying Sen. Dan Inouye (D-HI) to strip the amendment out of the bill. "The defense contractors have been storming [Inouye's] office," said one source.
