There are some false and damaging rumors about the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities causing real concern in Delaware and elsewhere. Our office has heard from Delawareans concerned that ratification of this treaty would impact their right to homeschool their children with disabilities, if they choose to do so.
Senator Coons took those concerns seriously, and he checked with Department of Justice directly. What he heard – what he confirmed, with absolute certainty – should put the minds of these parents at ease.
Ratification of this treaty will not do anything to change existing American law, rules or enforcement on homeschooling. The right of families who wish to homeschool their children to do so will be protected, no matter what.
Nor does the treaty erode one iota of American sovereignty.
It does not hand over any authority to any international body. It does not burden us with any new obligations or expenses. It does not require us to do anything but comply with our own, already existing law – a law that has been in place for 22 years. Any rights that Americans have now, they will continue to have if this treaty is ratified. Period.
Just days after Senator Coons introduced the FAST Voting Act to help speed up an array of reforms to our nation's elections, the New York Times' editorial board weighed in to make the case for election reform and endorse the FAST Voting Act.
While President Obama was delivering his victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday, Nov. 7, people were still standing in line in Florida to vote. Thousands had waited hours to vote in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, some in the cold, some giving up wages to do so. In a spontaneous aside — “by the way, we have to fix that” — the president acknowledged the unnecessary hardship of casting a vote in the United States and established a goal that he now has an obligation to address.
The long lines can be shortened with commitments from Washington, as well as state and local governments, but they are just the most glaring symptom of a deeply broken democratic process. In too many states, it’s also needlessly difficult to register to vote. States controlled by Republicans continue to erect partisan impediments to participation. And the process for choosing a candidate remains bound to unlimited and often secret campaign donations that are bound to lead to corruption.
The editorial outlined three steps for improving our nation's elections, including making it easier to vote:
Congress also can provide financial incentives to the states to do the job right. A bill introduced recently by Senator Christopher Coons, a Democrat of Delaware, would give grants to states that make registration easy, including allowing same-day registration; allow early voting; require no excuses for voting absentee; properly train poll workers; and provide sufficient polling places.
Senator Coons introduced the Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Voting Act of 2012 in the Senate on Thursday to try to speed up much-needed reforms to our nation's elections. You can read the full text of the legislation below.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia has signed on as a cosponsor of Senator Coons' Fair, Accurate, Secure and Timely (FAST) Voting Act of 2012. Senator Warner went to the Senate floor Thursday afternoon to talk about the bill and why it's important to our democracy. Watch below:
Thursday wasn't the first time Senator Coons came out swinging to protect Americans' right to privacy, but the day certainly highlighted Chris' reputation as one of the Senate's emerging privacy leaders.
The first moment came during the Senate Judiciary Committee's debate over several amendments to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act Sunset Extensions Act. (Seriously, that's what the bill is called.)
Quick background: FISA was passed in 1978 after President Nixon was found to have used federal intelligence resources to spy on political enemies. It defined the role of the courts and of Congress in setting parameters for use of those spy tools. Fast forward to post-9/11 2001, when the PATRIOT Act expanded FISA to include the new threat of non-state-sponsored terrorism. Those powers were expanded again in 2007, when Congress removed the requirement of a court-issued warrant for the government to surveil foreign intelligence targets in the United States. Abuses of these new powers during the Bush Administration resulted in the FISA Amendments Act in 2008. That law is scheduled to expire ("sunset") in 2012, and the Senate is now considering legislation to extend it, either to 2015 or 2017 (depending on which version passes).
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), with whom Senator Coons rarely agrees, proposed an amendment that would have prohibited the U.S. government from using communications obtained through wiretaps and foreign intelligence operations to search for information on U.S. citizens without a warrant. Put another way, let's say you're an American citizen your name happens to appear in records the intelligence community collected while surveilling a suspected terrorist. You're not suspected of terrorism, but for some reason, you're name is dragged into it. This measure would prevent the government from searching for your name and using what it found against you without a court order.
"The FISA Amendments Act is an important and valuable law for our national security," Senator Coons said. "But its use needs to be watched closely to prevent abuses like the ones we saw in 2008."
Senator Coons voted for Senator Lee's amendment. As did Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), but they were the only three to vote for this privacy-protection measure, and the amendment failed, 15-3.
The second moment Thursday came as the Senate was winding down for the week. Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have been working on the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 for quite some time, and after studying it earlier this year, Senator Coons determined it lacked the privacy protections a bill of this importance should have.
He was determined not to let Congress repeat some of the mistakes of the previous decade, when it dramatically expanded the government's power to spy on U.S. citizens, but didn't include sufficient protections for Americans' privacy.
"For months," Senator Coons said, "I have worked with several of my colleagues on language that strikes a better balance between than what was proposed in earlier drafts of the legislation, which would have enabled greater information sharing, but at too significant a cost to personal privacy. Senators Lieberman and Collins have worked with us with in earnest to find a better balance, and with the version introduced today, S.3414, I believe we have found it."
The new version of the legislation features an array of improvements for which Senator Coons appealed, centering on the information-sharing provisions under Title VII of the bill. The result is a stronger version of the Cybersecurity Act, and a significantly stronger bill than the House-supported CISPA.
For a first-term freshman, Senator Coons is certainly starting to show he deserves a seat at the table on the most complex privacy issues facing our nation. Thursday was evidence of that.
When the Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that corporations could spend money to influence our elections through "super PACs," it opened the floodgates so corporate cash could try to buy your vote.
This money is bankrolling an unprecedented amount of negative television advertising and without realizing it, you could be footing the bill.
The next time you go to the store, it might not just be a table saw or gallon of milk you're buying. You could also be buying an election.
When corporations use the hard-earned dollars you spend on their products to fund secret campaign contributions, I think you have a right to know about it.
That's why I am fighting for a bill in the Senate this week that would give voters more information about who is trying to buy their vote. It's called the DISCLOSE Act, and tonight at 9:00, I'll join nearly a dozen of my colleagues on the floor to speak about why it's important.
The DISCLOSE Act requires quick public disclosure of major campaign expenditures. It will require political groups posing as charities to disclose their donors and will prevent corporations and other wealthy interests from using shell corporations to funnel secret money to super PACs.
No one should be able to buy an election, least of all a corporation. As a consumer and a voter, you should have the power to make informed decisions before you cast your ballot.
The DISCLOSE Act is not everything we need to undo the damage caused by the Citizens United ruling, but it's an important first step. I'm proud to cosponsor it, and I hope my colleagues will vote in favor it.
Senator Coons voiced his strong support Thursday for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2006 with 153 signatories and 116 ratifying parties, which does not include the United States. The convention was the focus of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Thursday. Chris chaired part of the hearing.
“The American people expect Congress to protect the fundamental rights of all people,” Chris said. “The United States can and should demonstrate global leadership by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We’ve long been a leader on protecting rights for disabled persons, as demonstrated by the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which passed twenty-two years ago.”
Thursday’s hearing featured testimony from an array of witnesses, including U.S. Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). The second panel featured leaders from the departments of State and Justice. The third panel featured former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, former Justice Department official John Wodatch, the Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves, Chancellor of Patrick Henry College Dr. Michael Farris, and retired Marine lieutenant John Lancaster, formerly of the National Council On Independent Living.
A bill co-sponsored by Senator Coons to ensure same-sex partners of federal workers receive the same benefits as straight couples passed the Senate Homeland Security Committee by voice vote Wednesday.
The legislation, the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, allows federal employees in same-sex domestic partnerships to receive the same benefits as heterosexual married couples, including health insurance, long-term disability, retirement and other benefits.
Chris is a strong advocate for civil rights and co-sponsored this legislation because he believes it is a matter of fundamental fairness. In addition, this bill helps the federal government compete with private sector companies for top talent. Nearly 10,000 private companies of all sizes provide benefits to domestic partners – including 60 percent of all Fortune 500 companies. Some 34,000 federal workers lived in committed same-sex partnerships in 2007.
This legislation was sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee.
One day after President Obama announced in a historic interview that he supports same-sex marriage, Senator Chris Coons joined 16 of his Senate colleagues in urging the Administration to protect married LGBT couples facing deportation.
Chris and his colleagues called on the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to provide relief to same-sex couples in which one spouse is not a U.S. citizen. Chris believes that while the Defense of Marriage Act is being challenged in court, the denial of green card applications in these cases is unfairly forcing couples to choose between breaking the law or being separated from their families. He strongly opposes the Defense of Marriage Act and believes Congress should repeal this discriminatory law.
Led by Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the letter reads in part “We write to you to reiterate our request that the Administration provide relief for lesbian and gay families in which one spouse is not a U.S. citizen during this time of legal uncertainty…With marriage equality rights being extended to more and more citizens of this country, and with the Department of Justice’s repudiation of DOMA, we are concerned with the toll the continued denial of I-130 applications for same-sex immigrant spouses is exacting on families in this country.”
Along with Senator Coons and Senator Kerry, the letter was signed by Senators Patrick Leahy, Ron Wyden, Bernard Sanders, Jeff Merkley, Daniel Akaka, Al Franken, Charles Schumer, Frank Lautenberg, Barbara Mikulski, Jeanne Shaheen, Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse, Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray and Kirsten Gillibrand.
This afternoon, President Obama made a historic statement. In an interview with ABC News, he said “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
Senator Coons believes this is an important moment on the journey to equality. Chris is a member of the Senate Judiciary, a cosponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act and a strong advocate for civil rights. Today, he noted that this is “the first time a sitting president has endorsed the idea that every American, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be able to marry the person they love. Period.”
Chris recognized that for some Americans, the question of marriage equality is difficult to answer, saying “I respect that everyone comes to a position in their own way and in their own time.”
He complimented the President on his leadership on LGBT equality, which did not begin today. Previously President Obama ordered the federal government to extend key benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, banned discrimination based on gender identity in federal workplaces, signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, clarified the Family and Medical Leave Act to ensure family leave for LGBT employees, endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act and declared the government would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act and repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell so gay and lesbian members of the military can serve their country openly and proudly.
As Chris said this afternoon, “President Obama is doing the right thing. By coming out for marriage equality today, he is sending a clear message: LGBT rights are human rights, and the right to marry the person you love is intrinsic to what it means to be an American. President Obama may be taking a huge political risk, but some risks are worth taking. That’s what leaders do.”
The first moment came during the Senate Judiciary Committee's debate over several amendments to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act Sunset Extensions Act. (Seriously, that's what the bill is called.)
Senator Coons voiced his strong support Thursday for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2006 with 153 signatories and 116 ratifying parties, which does not include the United States. The convention was the focus of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Thursday. Chris chaired part of the hearing.