One ‘No’ Too Many?

By Tracie Powell

The "party of no" just might have gone one vote too far this time.

By now many, if not most, Americans have heard about the 30 Senate Republicans who voted against an amendment that would have prohibited government contracts with companies that use mandatory arbitration clauses to deny assault victims the right to have their cases heard in court.

But get this: Reports emerged Thursday that the proposal, introduced by Sen. Al Franken , D-Minn., may be stripped away by a fellow Democrat, not a Republican.

The third longest-serving senator in history, Democrat Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, is reportedly considering altering or removing the provision that is part of the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill. A spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Inouye, said in an e-mail that the committee does not comment on ongoing conference negotiations and emphasized that the White House supports the intent of Franken's amendment.

Never let it be said that the Democratic Party is monolithic, or unified for that matter.

Still, it is Republicans who are currently being tagged as "pro-rape " and credited with trying to derail an amendment that helps victims get justice.

Whose bright idea was it to unify against something like this? Surely opponents are already dreaming up campaign ads for the next election cycle.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003229332&cpage=1