SALON

Friday, Feb 1, 2013 8:19 PM UTC

Senate has the votes to pass Violence Against Women Act

Seven Republicans say they will support the latest version of the bill

By

Topics: domestic violence, Violence Against Women Act, Patrick Leahy, Louise Slaughter, House Republicans,

Senate has the votes to pass Violence Against Women Act (Credit: Facebook/SenatorPatrickLeahy)

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Friday that the Senate has enough votes to pass the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, with the Senate to begin consideration of the law next week.

Leahy tweeted:

In a statement, Leahy said: “I am pleased the Senate will next week turn its focus to reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.  The Leahy-Crapo VAWA bill seeks to protect all victims of domestic and sexual violence, including tribal women, immigrants, college students, and members of the LGBT community.”

Along with 53 Senate Democrats, seven Republicans have also committed to supporting the bill’s reauthorization, giving it the 60 votes it needs to break a potential Republican filibuster. Those Republicans include Mike Crapo, Idaho, who co-sponsored the bill with Leahy, along with Kelly Ayotte, N.H., Susan Collins, Maine, Dean Heller, Nev., Mark Kirk, Ill., Jerry Moran, Kan., and Lisa Murkowski, Alaska.

VAWA stalled and expired for the first time ever in September, 2011, and over the course of last year House Republicans blocked it from passing several times. The Senate’s latest version of the VAWA carves out protections for LGBT women, undocumented immigrants, and Native American women, and strips out a provision that House Republicans used as a way to mount procedural objections to the bill last time around.

So far there’s been mostly silence from House Republicans on whether or not they’ll take it up after the Senate, but reportedly Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who chairs the House Republican Conference, is a potential leader on the issue.

“The House is continuing to work with VAWA advocates on the best path forward to ensure we protect women and prosecutor offenders,” a House GOP leadership aide told Sahil Kapur from TPM.

In a statement sent to Salon, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who helped draft the original VAWA legislation, said that “Women across America are looking to this House to finally reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and I hope the speaker sees protecting all women against violence as more important than appeasing the fringe of his caucus, who have sought to exclude undocumented women, Native American women, and LGBT victims.”

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 3 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations