Al Franken's Blog, page 127

The Minnesota Independent: Franken, Klobuchar, Madia press for DADT repeal

Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar pushed for a repeal of the military's ban on openly serving gays and lesbians on Thursday and urged the U.S. Senate to pass a defense authorization bill that contains a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. At the same time, former congressional candidate and military veteran Ashwin Madia is using his new position as head of VoteVets to get a ban passed during the lame duck session.

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Minnesota Independent: Franken pushes for anti-bullying legislation

At a Thursday press conferences, Sen. Al Franken advocated for stronger anti-bullying laws in schools in the wake of several suicides by LGBT students in Minnesota and around the country who were bullied. Franken wants anti-bullying policies included in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which will be debated early next year. He was joined by Tammy Aaberg, the mother of Justin Aaberg who took his own life in July after what enduring what friends and family say was anti-gay bullying.

"No student should have to dread going to school because they fear being bullied," Franken said at the press conference. "With the spate of recent suicides in Minnesota as a result of anti-LGBT bullying, it's clear that we need to do more to ensure schools are a safe environment for all students. Ending this bullying and harassment in schools will be a priority for education reform in the next Congress."

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Montevideo American-News: End abuse from debt collection firms

Montevideo, MN — When someone takes out a loan, they ought to pay it back. But an increasing number of unscrupulous debt collection agencies have begun taking advantage of innocent people who have tried to play by the rules. I think this is a problem lawmakers must address.

Debt collection firms are preying on people with good intentions but without the time and money to figure out their rights and fight back. And some debt collectors are exploiting scarce law enforcement resources to go after unsuspecting Minnesotans. These abuses also include nasty and harassing calls and going after innocent people for debts that they don't owe.

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Star Tribune: Minnesota mother who lost son advocates for federal anti-bullying laws

Tammy Aaberg still gets choked up when she talks about her 15-year-old son, Justin Aaberg, an Anoka High School student who committed suicide in July.

But that hasn't stopped her from speaking out to try and prevent others from going through the same tragedy her family has faced.

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Read the rest of Star Tribune: Minnesota mother who lost son advocates for federal anti-bullying laws (158 words)

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MinnPost: Don't Ask Don't Tell opponents's biggest remaining foe? The calendar

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats including Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken today launched a final push for a congressional repeal to the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy that bars gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military, with Colorado's Mark Udall warning that "if we don't get this done this year, it could be years until it's done."

Hours later, Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will file a cloture motion on the Defense authorization bill, which includes a clause that will effectively repeal the law. Essentially, it gives the president and top military leaders the option to say that the policy can be repealed, and which point it would be. President Obama has said he'll end the policy if Congress gives him the option first.

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Huffington Post: White House, Democratic Senators Push for DADT Repeal This Year

Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and several Democratic senators are holding a press conference Thursday morning to "show broad support for repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the lame duck session" as part of the National Defense Appropriations Act, according to Lieberman's press secretary Erika Masonhall.

The senators expected to join Lieberman at the press conference are both California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) (his Republican successor has not yet been certified and sworn in), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD). They may be joined by other senators. Also there will be Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, Aubrey Sarvis, Executive Director, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, J. Alexander Nicholson III, Executive Director, Servicemembers United, and representatives from the Center for American Progress Action Fund and The Third Way.

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Read the rest of Huffington Post: White House, Democratic Senators Push for DADT Repeal This Year (303 words)

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The New Republic: Jeff Rosen On Al Franken

Ever since he declared his campaign for Senator, Al Franken has been trailed by endless Stuart Smalley jokes. In TNR's latest issue, though Jeff Rosen trails Franken around and concludes that Franken is, indeed, good enough and smart enough:

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MinnPost: Al Franken: Institutionalist?

The New Republic's legal affairs reporter Jeffrey Rosen is up with a fresh (and fairly adoring) profile of Al Franken. The themes are familiar from a raft of profiles that ran in Franken's first months: the need for Franken to curb the edgiest parts of his sense of humor, his effort as a rookie senator to emulate Hillary Clinton, who also had to overcome assumptions that her pre-Senate celebrity would give her attitude issues, his determination to at least get along with and maybe even work with his Republican colleagues, and the obligatory discovery that after a career in comedy, Franken can be smart and serious.

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Fox 9: Whistleblower Speaks out on Vet Home Retaliation

HASTINGS, Minn. – A Hastings man says when he complained about a state veterans' home, top administrators tried to get him civilly committed. His allegations of retaliation launched one woman's mission to uncover what was really happening at the veterans' home in Hastings.

Louie Klimek admits he's a bit of a squeaky wheel and believes it got him kicked out of the Hastings Veterans Home, where he stayed for seven years. But one day as he was giving an interview to a local reporter about his woodworking, the top administrator of the Hastings home, Chip Cox, apparently thought Klimek was complaining about his care.

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Hometown Source: Franken's call for investigation leads to veterans home improvements

Washington, D. C. — U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) today (Monday, Nov. 15) released a letter from a top state veterans official outlining the corrective action being taken at the Minnesota Veterans State Home in Hastings (MVH-Hastings) to address problems recently uncovered by a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs investigation that Sen. Franken initiated earlier this year after receiving constituent complaints.

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