Al Franken on Homeland Security

DFL Jr Senator (MN)

2005: Coleman should've held hearings on post-war corruption

In his 2005 book, "The Truth (With Jokes)", Franken wrote about Coleman's chairmanship of the Senate Subcommittee on Permanent Investigations, a panel charged with looking into, among other things, corruption in defense and security contracts in Iraq. Asserting that Coleman had failed to hold "a single hearing on postwar corruption," Franken called Coleman "one of the administration's leading butt boys," and wondered if Coleman's ambition was "to become vice president in the third Bush administration."

Thus the emotional and personal groundwork was laid for a brutal campaign years before Franken announced his own ambitions. Franken-Coleman 2008 was not Wellstone-Coleman 2.0.

Source: This Is Not Florida, by Jay Weiner, p. 67 , Sep 16, 2010

Fund UN Peace Operations in Darfur

Q: Will you support and actively work to fully fund the U.S. contribution to UN Peace Operations in hot spots like Darfur?

A: Yes.

Q: Will you cosponsor a resolution in Congress supporting the establishment of a UN Emergency Peace Service if one is introduced?

A: Yes. I would support anything that helps shorten the time it takes for peacekeepers to be deployed.

Source: Citizens for Global Solutions: 2008 Senate questionnaire , Sep 9, 2008

Reduce our arsenal & abandon plans for new nuclear weapons

Q: Do you oppose the development of new nuclear weapons by the US or any other nation?

A: Yes. The US has numbers of nuclear weapons way beyond what we might need as a deterrent. The most senior officials from earlier administrations are all stressing the urgency of reducing our arsenal. As we work to stop nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, reductions on our part will help us regain the moral high ground. And, of course, a good first step is to abandon any plans to build new nuclear weapons.

Q: Do you support U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty?

A: Yes. Nuclear weapons tests are a key threshold for aspiring nuclear powers, as we saw recently in North Korea. The CTBT is an important pillar of the nonproliferation effort, and I support it.

Source: Citizens for Global Solutions: 2008 Senate questionnaire , Sep 9, 2008

Renew our commitment to our men and women in uniform

Not only do we need to stop shortchanging our veterans, we need to revitalize and renew our commitment to our men and women in uniform. I want to start with these steps:

Fully funding the Veterans Administration budget--this year, next year, and every year--so that every veteran can have quality mental, physical, and long-term health care for life.
Cutting red tape and doing for the VA bureaucracy what we did for VA hospitals--make it more streamlined, efficient, and effective.
Better screenings for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.
Doing a better job of helping veterans re-integrate into their communities.
Creating a new G.I. Bill. We should expand the current G.I. Bill to cover 100% of a public college education--including tuition, fees, and expenses--as well as cap student loan rates for vets and make it easier for veterans who halt their education for service to pick up where they left off.

Source: 2008 Senate campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, “Issues” , Aug 12, 2008

Investigate waste, fraud, & abuse in Iraq contracts

According to a new CBO report, one in every five dollars devoted to Iraq has gone to private contractors, who now have more people in Iraq than the US military. The Times describes this as “a second, private, army--one whose roles and missions and even casualties among its work force have largely been hidden from public view.” As Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Norm Coleman failed to hold a single hearing on the waste, fraud, & abuse that sabotaged the reconstruction of Iraq. Source: Press release, “Tales from the Oversight-Free Zone #5” , Aug 12, 2008

Better screenings for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Estimates suggest that a third of all troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from some form of Traumatic Brain Injury--and not all suffer from easily visible symptoms. And perhaps as many as one in five veterans suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. We are only beginning to understand how to prevent, diagnose, & treat these ailments, so we should continue to fund research into how to do that better. (One good way of preventing TBI would be to guarantee that when we send our men & women to combat, they receive appropriate equipment--especially helmet liners.) But we also need to commit ourselves to screening more veterans as they return home and seeking out potential combat stress sufferers who otherwise might end up in prison or on the streets. We have to do a better job of tracking at-risk vets to make sure problems don’t arise later without detection--and because these issues don’t come with statutes of limitations, we should retroactively expand coverage of these conditions. Source: 2008 Senate campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, “Issues” , May 14, 2008

Respect the sacrifice made by military families

I’ll fight to raise military pay and benefits so that families who lend us their loved ones don’t forfeit their economic security. We should also allow families of mobilized Guards members and reservists access to military health care benefits so that their spouses and children don’t lose coverage, and offer grants to community organizations that bring military families together to provide support and counseling during the difficult time when a loved one is away. Source: 2008 Senate campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, “Issues” , May 14, 2008

Do for the VA bureaucracy what we did for VA hospitals

Make it more streamlined, efficient, and effective. In addition to fully funding the VA, we must make its benefits readily accessible for all veterans. In the Senate, I’ll work to cut red tape. The first step is to make the transition from Department of Defense health care to VA health care easier by moving the military to electronic medical records, automatically transferring information between systems, and providing advocates, especially for combat-wounded vets, to help them make use of the VA. Source: 2008 Senate campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, “Issues” , May 14, 2008

Help veterans re-integrate into their communities

Returning veterans should receive clear information regarding what benefits they’re entitled to, how they can access them, and where they can find resources to help them navigate the system. But that’s not enough. To address the epidemics of homelessness and unemployment among veterans, we should create new housing vouchers and increase funding for programs (and incentives for employers) that assist veterans in transitioning to civilian employment. Source: 2008 Senate campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, “Issues” , May 14, 2008

We must renew our commitment to our veterans

Even as our overseas commitments stretch our military to its limits, many who claim that Democrats don’t “support our troops” are consistently failing to support our veterans. Bush has sent budgets to Congress that actually contain cuts to veterans’ health care. Republicans in Congress tried last year to cut in half research into traumatic brain injury--the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have to do better for the men and women who have worn the uniform of the US into battle. Source: 2008 Senate campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, “Issues” , May 14, 2008

Create a new G.I. Bill to pay for 100% of college

Creating a new G.I. Bill. With the cost of college skyrocketing, the G.I. Bill now only pays for around 60% of a public college education. Even worse, service members must pay $1,200 or more out of their paychecks in their first year of service in order to qualify. We should expand the current G.I. Bill to cover 100% of a public college education--including tuition, fees, and expenses--and eliminate the $1,200 pay reduction, as well as cap student loan rates for vets. Source: 2008 Senate campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, “Issues” , Mar 9, 2008

Voted YES on extending the PATRIOT Act's roving wiretaps.

Congressional Summary: A bill to extend expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 relating to access to business records, individual terrorists as agents of foreign powers, and roving wiretaps until December 8, 2011.

Proponent's Argument for voting Yes:
[Rep. Smith, R-TX]: America is safe today not because terrorists and spies have given up their goal to destroy our freedoms and our way of life. We are safe today because the men and women of our Armed Forces, our intelligence community, and our law enforcement agencies work every single day to protect us. And Congress must ensure that they are equipped with the resources they need to counteract continuing terrorist threats. On Feb. 28, three important provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act will expire. These provisions give investigators in national security cases the authority to conduct "roving" wiretaps, to seek certain business records, and to gather intelligence on lone terrorists who are not affiliated with a known terrorist group. The Patriot Act works. It has proved effective in preventing terrorist attacks and protecting Americans. To let these provisions expire would leave every American less safe.

Opponent's Argument for voting No:
[Rep. Conyers, D-MI]: Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows a secret FISA court to authorize our government to collect business records or anything else, requiring that a person or business produce virtually any type record. We didn't think that that was right then. We don't think it's right now. This provision is contrary to traditional notions of search and seizure which require the government to show reasonable suspicion or probable cause before undertaking an investigation that infringes upon a person's privacy. And so I urge a "no" vote on the extension of these expiring provisions.
Status: Passed 86-12

Reference: FISA Sunsets Extension Act; Bill H.514 ; vote number 11-SV019 on Feb 17, 2011

Repeal Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell, and reinstate discharged gays.

Franken signed HR1283&S3065

Repeals current Department of Defense policy [popularly known as "Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell"] concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces. Prohibits the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard, from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation against any member of the Armed Forces or any person seeking to become a member. Authorizes the re-accession into the Armed Forces of otherwise qualified individuals previously separated for homosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexual conduct.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the furnishing of dependent benefits in violation of section 7 of title 1, United States Code (relating to the definitions of 'marriage' and 'spouse' and referred to as the 'Defense of Marriage Act').

Source: Military Readiness Enhancement Act 10-HR1283 on Mar 3, 2010

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