Civil Rights

The Washington Post pulled no punches in its scathing editorial on Friday on the D.C. voting rights bill that is currently stalled in Congress. The bill, which would provide D.C. a voting member in the House and also add a member to Utah's delegation, has made it through the Senate. It was held up in the House this week, as Democrats sought to address an amendment added to the Senate version that restricts D.C.'s ability to regulate and restrict guns.

The Washington Post says, basically, that lawmakers are in the pocket of the gun lobby.

...lawmakers were more interested (in the case of D.C. voting rights) in trying to curry favor with the gun lobby and (in the matter of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program) with teachers unions and others ideologically opposed to vouchers. It is scary how blithely 62 senators, including 22 Democrats, signed on to broad changes in gun legislation affecting the nation's capital. Even if they don't care a whit about the wishes or safety of city residents, you would think they might want to know what the Secret Service thinks about repealing the ban on .50-caliber sniper rifles able to pierce armor plating up to a mile away.

Wham! And the Washington Post goes further, singling out certain members. Read more...

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and 47 senators are calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to allow a vote on a bill seeking to strip Washington, D.C. of much of its power to regulate gun ownership.

Hutchison, 41 other Republicans and five Democratic senators have sent a letter to read urging a vote to repeal the regulations. It cites the Supreme Court's June ruling against the city's handgun ban in June.

Read Hutchison's letter below:

September 18, 2008

The Honorable Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510


Dear Leader Reid:

On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling affirming the Second Amendment right to bear arms as an individual and constitutionally protected right. In DC v. Heller, the court affirmed that the District of Columbia

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D) said Wednesday that the Senate this month will not take up his long-awaited resolution to prompt the U.S. government to apologize for slavery.

Harkin said the Senate's legislative schedule is too cramped to consider the resolution, although he emphasized it will be introduced later, probably in early 2009. The House already passed a resolution on July 29, but the Senate only has two and a half weeks of scheduled sessions before a target adjournment date of Sept. 26. The chamber is not likely to reconvene until after the election

The Senate today passed the House's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) overhaul, voting 69 to 28 in favor of the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised the bill's passage. "Today the Senate ensured that our national security officials have the tools they need to help protect our country from future terrorist attacks.

Congress will receive testimony tomorrow from a former Army ranger who says the Library of Congress turned her down for a job after learning of her gender transition.

Diane Schroer, a former Airborne ranger, will testify tomorrow in the House Education and Labor Committee when it examines transgender discrimination in the workplace.

Schroer says she accepted a job as a terrorism research analyst for the Library of Congress, but when she told her would-be employers that she was in the process of a male-to-female gender transition, the offer was rescinded. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is representing Schroer in a discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress.

The ACLU is calling the hearing Congress's first on transgender issues, though hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act last year dealt with transgender discrimination.

The committee decided to hold the hearing earlier this year expecting that it would assist one of its subcommittees in drafting legislation to address transgender discrimination, the ACLU told The Hill.

National Center for Lesbian Rights Legal Director Shannon Minter will also testify at tomorrow's hearing.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is set to introduce a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.

Broun, a first-term congressman, criticized last week's California Supreme Court ruling striking down a state ban on same-sex marriage.

"Marriage as an institution exists solely between one man and one woman," said Broun in a press release. "Americans have traditionally recognized this definition as being the most beneficial arrangement for the creation of stable family structures and for the upbringing of children."

President George W. Bush and Republicans have staunchly supported a federal marriage amendment. But the last push for an amendment stalled in 2006 when it failed to get the necessary two-thirds of support needed in House.

Since succeeding late Rep. Charlie Norwood last July, Broun has positioned himself as a social conservative. He has called for a ban on pornographic materials on military bases, which has earned him criticism from libertarian-minded conservative bloggers.

The Senate just passed a bill seeking to outlaw discrimination based on the genetic test results.

It clears the the way for the measure to become law more than 10 years after Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced it. The bill passed the Senate 95-0. The House is expected to pass it next week and the White House has said the president will sign it.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act would forbid insurance companies from denying coverage to workers due to genetic makeup. It would also prohibit insurers and employers from forcing employees to undergo genetic tests.

Read Snowe's statement about the bill below:

WASHINGTON D.C.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) tomorrow will launch a tour through California, Nevada, and Colorado in opposition of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gay and lesbian servicemembers. The tour will start in San Diego, then will proceed to Las Vegas, Denver, and Palm Springs.

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Barack Obama and John McCain, along with fifteen other senators, have signed on to Sen. Wayne Allard's (R-Colo.) letter to President Bush calling for improvements to the military absentee voting process.

In the letter, Allard and the senators note that in 2006, active duty servicemen and women voted at a rate of 42% lower than the general population and that a reported 47% who wanted to vote never got the chance. The letter calls on Bush to act immediately to improve the process.

Hillary Clinton's signature did not appear on the letter.

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