Another look at the political week that was…
● Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) fight for survivors inspires a New York Times op-ed about Congress’ epic failure to pass meaningful legislation to tackle the epidemic of sexual assault in the military.
● Meaningful legislation—where the reporting procedures are outside the chain of command— was blocked by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), who placed himself firmly on the side of the rapists with his refusal to accept critical components of Senator Gillibrand’s bill.
● Who is NSA leaker Edward Snowden?
● House Republicans passed an unconstitutional 20 week abortion ban.
● A Republican civil war is brewing over immigration reform. House Republicans want to gut the bill, but Senate Republicans seem aware that doing so will spell electoral disaster for a generation to come as a result of America’s changing demographics.
● Meanwhile, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) threatened to block immigration reform if it includes a provision for same-sex couples.
● Ohio wins the award for the worst anti-choice legislation in the country.
● Connecticut passed a bill of rights for homeless citizens in their state.
● 26 members of Congress live off of food stamps for a week to protest cuts to essential programs by House Republicans.
● The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that human genes cannot be patented.