The bipartisan housing bill currently being debated in the Senate contains an unrelated amendment that will burden innovative Internet companies and threaten the civil liberties of every American.  Without any discussion, Senators added a provision to H.R. 3221 (The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008) requiring electronic payment services to collect, aggregate, and transmit details of every sale to the federal government.

This includes not only major credit card providers such as Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, but also pioneers in online commerce such as Amazon, Google Checkout, and eBay’s PayPal.  These companies would be required to construct vast databases of personal information from merchants, including names, addresses, social security numbers, and detailed information about every electronic transaction.  Not only would these requirements trigger higher fees for merchants and higher prices for consumers, but they will also needlessly subject millions of small businesses to the risk of identity theft. Read the rest of this entry »

Our fight to enact sensible gun laws will be undiminished by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Heller case.  While we disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which strips the citizens of the District of Columbia of a law they strongly support, the decision clearly suggests that other gun laws are entirely consistent with the Constitution.

For years, the gun lobby has used fear of government gun confiscation to thwart efforts to pass sensible gun laws, arguing that even modest gun laws will lead down the path to a complete ban on gun ownership. Now that the Court has struck down the District’s ban on handguns, while making it clear that the Constitution allows for reasonable restrictions on access to dangerous weapons, this ‘slippery slope’ argument is gone. Read the rest of this entry »

The rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 recently passed by the House (H.R. 6304) deals with some of the Bush Administration’s more Constitutionally challenged activities. Recognizing the role of the Judicial Branch, for instance, is a good idea. The Administration’s claim that Congress’ authorization of force after 9/11 somehow implicitly allowed the White House to operate a wiretapping program in this country outside the court system has always stretched credulity.

Unfortunately, though, the Democrats caved to the White House by giving the telecom companies a get-out-of-jail-free card for handing over private information about American citizens to government agents. I think most Americans would consider having their phone conversations secretly recorded and handed over to the government an example of unreasonable search and seizure. If this legislation is signed into law, all of the Americans who sued these telecom companies in protest will never have their day in court. As there are no Senators willing to stop this bill, we expect that chamber to also pass it. Read the rest of this entry »

We waited for so long for someone in the Democratic leadership to recognize that a compromise needed to be struck for the good of our country. I applaud Steny Hoyer for reaching across the aisle to get this done. This is a very responsible compromise, hammered out in a bipartisan way. The people who struck this compromise should be applauded.

In an election year with presidential candidates vying for the ultimate prize in 2009, it may seem natural for DC Vote to take some time to re-group until a new administration settles in. But, District residents have waited more than two centuries for equal representation in Congress, and the fight is not yet over during this legislative session. Our goal is ambitious – to end the Senate’s filibuster and bring the DC Voting Rights Act (S. 1257) back to the floor for a vote in summer 2008.

DC Vote is doing a number of things to make this goal a reality. We continue to travel to states and meet with advocacy groups, state leaders and college students to educate them about DC voting rights and garner support for the issue. On a recent trip to Mississippi, DC Vote staff met with Owen Brooks who, in 1950, hitchhiked from Boston to the Capitol steps to protest DC’s denial of representation in Congress. Another supporter, Rev. Hosea Hines, offered to organize a protest march through the streets of Jackson, MS, in support of DC voting rights. And last month, more than a dozen supporters in Montana took the initiative to stage a protest outside an event in Missoula where Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was speaking. Read the rest of this entry »

For years now, corrupt interests have co-opted our government for
political gain and private profiteering. Our best line of defense when
the law is ignored and regulation fails are the informed insiders who
believe so strongly in the importance of accountability and saving
taxpayer dollars - and often saving lives - that they are willing to
risk their careers and safety to expose government wrongdoing.

It is a national disgrace that speaking out about government fraud,
misconduct, waste and corruption is still such a risky endeavor. More
often than not, whistleblowers suffer from some form of serious
retaliation, including threats, demotion or outright firing for exposing
wrongful conduct. Conscientious civil servants deserve strong statutory
protections, not risk and intimidation. Yet many end up sacrificing
because the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act has been interpreted and
enforced in a way that weakens the protections Congress intended -
protections that government whistleblowers desperately need.

It’s time to end the discrimination and retaliation - as well as the
unmistakable and deeply chilling message it sends to all employees that
they should keep quiet, or else. Congress should complete the marathon
legislative effort to restore a credible Whistleblower Protection Act.

In March 2007, the landmark “Whistleblower Enhancement Protection Act
of 2007” passed the House by a veto-proof majority, 331-94. A weaker
Senate version, S. 274, passed last year by unanimous consent.

The differences between the bills are manageable. Yet negotiations have
stalled as industry lobbyists have swarmed the Capitol, imperiling many
critical protections that already passed with strong majority support.
Especially during this time of war, it is critical that we extend
protections to federal employees who work in national security,
including those at intelligence agencies, as well as to federally funded
contractors. Scientists also require specific protection.  Most
importantly, all federal employees and contractors also must have a
right to jury trials in federal court when other administrative remedies
have failed. We join 111 other concerned organizations in calling on
Congress to waste no more time enacting these protections - and not put
more whistleblowers at risk by hesitating. They deserve better. And the
American people deserve a government in which employees are not
threatened and penalized for being stewards of the public trust. We need
them now, more than ever.

This week the Supreme Court reaffirmed that protection against retaliation is a crucial aspect of the enforcement of our nation’s civil rights laws in two decisions. CBOCS v. Humphries involved a restaurant manager who alleged that he was fired after reporting racially derogatory remarks and differential treatment of minority employees. Gomez-Perez v. Potter involved a postal worker who claimed retaliation after she complained that the refusal to grant her a transfer was based on age discrimination.

In both cases the Court did what we should have been able to expect– to follow precedent.  The Court affirmed a case decided just over three years ago, Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, which held that Title IX’s broad prohibition against sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funds also prohibits retaliation, which, in turn, was based on another Supreme Court case decided almost 40 years ago. Thus, in Gomez-Perez and CBOCS the Court stood by its longstanding precedent to hold that a right to be free from discrimination includes a right to be free from retaliation.  Indeed, the Court recognized, as it has in the past, that protections against discrimination include a protection against retaliation. Read the rest of this entry »

Charlton Heston always stood up for what he knew was right, whether it was fighting in World War II, integrating the Screen Actors Guild with Ronald Reagan or fighting to protect Americans’ God given right to keep and bear arms.

As a member of the NRA Board, I worked with Mr. Heston to protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights and I cannot say enough good things about him.  He was a true leader that understood the importance of the Second Amendment.

As Mr. Heston knew, the Second Amendment protects our right to keep and bear arms, it does not provide it to us, just as the First Amendment does not give us our right to free speech.

And yet, there are those who want to take this right away from us.  More than half a million people are still deprived of their Second Amendment rights by the D.C. Gun Ban.  There is legislation that has been introduced in this Congress to reinstate the failed and unconstitutional Assault Weapon Ban.  Without more people like Mr. Heston, who understand the importance of our Second Amendment rights, we will not be able to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away.

We must continue to remain vigilant and oppose these threats to our God given right to keep and bear arms.  If we do not protect this right, how will we be able to protect ourselves against those who would infringe upon our other rights?

I will continue to do everything in my power to protect Americans and Alaskans’ Second Amendment rights and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

And I ask my colleagues to support this resolution and help to honor and remember Charlton Heston, a great man who always stood up for what he knew was right, whether it was Civil Rights or our  right to keep and bear arms.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends for their loss.

The Bush Administration’s embrace of torture and secret detentions has led our country down a dark hallway.  Never again should the practices of our government turn so far away from the values of our people.  I hope these measures will help put right what has gone so badly wrong, and restore the stature and goodwill this nation had earned around the world before this Administration took office.

Sen. Enzi is ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

This evening, the Majority Leader is forcing a vote on legislation aimed at overturning the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear which would effectively eliminate the statute of limitations on employment discrimination cases as guaranteed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and make it much more difficult to resolve claims quickly and fairly.

Rather than moving this legislation by regular order, and through the Committee process, the Democrat leadership opted simply to spring this bill on the Senate in the hope of forcing a vote with little or no meaningful deliberation and no realistic opportunity to improve the bill. This action is a transparent attempt to score political points at the expense of responsible legislating.

The writers of the Civil Rights Act intentionally included a well-reasoned statute of limitations, but the Ledbetter bill would reverse that intent. A statute of limitations serves an important purpose, and that is fairness. The Fair Pay Restoration Act, on the other hand, isn’t really about fairness. By effectively eliminating the statute of limitations, it undermines the goal of resolving employment discrimination claims fairly, quickly, and based on sound evidence. Read the rest of this entry »