In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones experienced a horrific ordeal for which, to date, there has been no justice. The employee of Halliburton/KBR in Iraq was allegedly drugged and gang-raped by co-workers, then at the order of the company was held captive in a shipping container for 24 hours without food, water or medical treatment.

No one has been charged with the crimes, and the defense contractor argued that it couldn't be sued by Jones because she had signed an employment agreement that said disputes must be settled through arbitration rather than U.S. courts. In September, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in her favor, so she should finally have her day in court. But it has been delayed far too long.

Last month, in an effort to make sure employers will be held accountable for their actions, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., sponsored an amendment to the 2010 defense appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court."

The amendment passed, 68-30. All of the no votes were cast by Republican men, including Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso of Wyoming. The four GOP women senators and a handful of their male colleagues sided with the Democrats.

Not surprisingly, there has been a great backlash against the "no" contingent for not supporting a rape victim. Some critics have even branded the 30 senators "pro-rape," a sensational charge that is not justified. Many, including Enzi and Barrasso, had legitimate (though we believe wrong) reasons for deciding that the Franken amendment was too broadly written.

It's easy to castigate the senators for their votes; it's harder to examine the issues at stake here. President Barack Obama's Defense Department also opposed the amendment. In a letter to senators, it worried that "enforcement would be problematic, especially in cases where privity of contract does not exist between parties within the supply chain that supports a contract."

While some senators argued that the amendment was actually aimed at banning all arbitration agreements, the facts don't support that claim. Franken specified workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases.

"Defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts to deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court ... The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen," Franken said.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., charged that the amendment was a political attack on Halliburton, but it applies to all contractors. He also said the Senate shouldn't be in the business of regulating private contracts. That's ridiculous. Congress certainly has the right to specify what is acceptable behavior by any company that is receiving federal money -- even Halliburton/KBR's huge no-bid contracts.

Obviously, contractors want to avoid the negative publicity such cases generate. But they shouldn't be allowed to sweep them under the rug and hide their actions from the public, and Congress certainly shouldn't help them in that effort.

The Franken amendment, if it holds up in conference committee with the House, should encourage contractors to keep such crimes from happening under their watch. But if they do occur, there won't be any question that victims can sue their employers. Unfortunately, Enzi's and Barrasso's votes did nothing to prevent all that has happened to Jones from being repeated.