Tuesday, October 6, 2009 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/07/franken-gets-first-amendm_n_312399.html#postComment
Senator AL Franken (D-MN) got his first piece of legislation passed by the United States Senate via roll call vote. The amendment stopped federal funding for those defense contractors who used mandatory arbitration clauses to deny victims of assault the right to bring their case to court. It passed by a 68-30 margin with nine Republicans joining each voting Democrat.
"The story came to my attention of Jamie Leigh Jones who, when she was 19, went to Iraq to work for [defense contractor] KBR and she was put in the barracks with 400 men and was sexually harassed," "She complained. But they didn't do anything about it. She was drugged and gang raped and they locked her up in a shipping container. She tried to sue KBR and they said you have a mandatory arbitration clause in your contract. She tried to fight back and said this is ridiculous. She took it to court and they have been fighting her for three years."
"This bill would make it so that anybody in business with the Department of the Defense can't do this," he concluded emphatically. "They can't have mandatory arbitration on issues like assault and battery."
Franken's amendment, was added to the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Bill.
Since winning election, the senator has had several memorable moments and achievements. He was praised for strong questioning -- and a solid Perry Mason joke -- during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. And, in mid July, a bill he authored to provide more service dog services to wounded veterans was adopted by the Senate through unanimous consent.
"One of the things I campaigned on is the fact that we haven't done oversight on our contractors," he said. "Part of the job of Congress is to do oversight which we really didn't do it, especially from 2001 to 2007. It was actually almost criminal that we didn't do it on our contractors in Iraq because there was all this money that was wasted and lost on fraud and abuse. It was totally incompetent and in contributed to the collapse of the country because the reconstruction was done so wrong."
Here’s a list of those voting against the Amendment:
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)