"I supported this legislation because I know how important it is to empower women in difficult situations,” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said in a statement. “If a woman is at risk, she should know that she has a place to turn for support and assistance. I supported VAWA in 2005, 2012, and today I voted in support of the House version to see that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault have access to the resources and protection when they need it the most.”

“I am pleased to support efforts to protect all women in this country from domestic abuse and other forms of violence,” said Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.

Continue Reading...

Obama is speaking at a signing ceremony for the bill, which extends domestic violence protections.

The law strengthens those protections for victims who are attacked on tribal land. It also makes clear that lesbians, gays and immigrants should have equal access to the law's programs.

The president says the original law "changed our culture." Obama praised Vice President Joe Biden, who wrote the bill in 1994, for making violence prevention one of his top priorities.

Continue Reading...

VAWA was allowed to expire in September, 2011, and then stalled for all of 2012 over expanded protections for LGBT women, Native Americans and undocumented immigrants. House Republicans objected to these additional protections, and repeatedly blocked the bill.

On Thursday, after pressure from Democrats and from within the GOP itself, House Republican leadership allowed the bill to go for an up-or-down vote, after first voting on a Republican version of the bill that did not include the additional protections. That bill was expected to, and did, fail by a vote of 166-257.

In a statement, President Obama said that "Renewing this bill is an important step towards making sure no one in America is forced to live in fear."

Continue Reading...

On Tuesday night, the House Rules Committee sent the House Republican version of the bill for a floor vote, where it is expected to fail. This version stripped out the expanded protections, but was soundly rejected by Democratic leadership. If it does fail, the Rules Committee said the Senate version will be taken up instead with an up-or-down vote.

As Sahil Kapur from TPM explains, there is a method to the maneuvering:

The big admission implicit in this latest move is that House GOP leaders don’t believe they have the votes to pass their version of the bill but that the Senate version is likely to pass the chamber. So this way they’ll give House conservatives the first bite at the apple as a way of saving face and still resolve an issue that has hurt them politically.

Continue Reading...

 “The Republican House leadership has decided to replace the Senate-passed version with a substitute that will not provide critical protections for rape victims, domestic violence victims, human trafficking victims, students on campuses, or stalking victims. This is simply unacceptable and it further demonstrates that Republicans in the House have not heard the message sent by the American people and reflected in the Senate’s overwhelming vote earlier this month to pass the bipartisan Leahy-Crapo bill."

And Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., added that "This partisan bill is a non-starter in the Senate."

From earlier:

House Republicans unveiled a version of the Violence Against Women Act that strips new protections for LGBT women, and changes the provision that would offer increased protections for Native American women.

Continue Reading...

The Trafficking Victims and Protection Act, which provides both enforcement tools and services on behalf of trafficking victims, has been unanimously renewed by Congress three times since its passage in 2000 under Bill Clinton. But in September 2011, it expired for the first time over a standoff on reproductive politics. And now its fate is linked to the Violence Against Women Act, with the anti-trafficking legislation having passed the Senate as an amendment to VAWA.

The anti-domestic violence bill's stalled, politicized path has sucked up far more media oxygen than the trafficking provision, but both bills were relatively uncontroversial in the Senate, only to fall prey to culture war posturing in the House. For VAWA, the fault line has been whether Native American tribal courts could prosecute non-Indian abusers and over enhanced LGBT protections. For TVPA, it's whether the federal government should give preference for grants to organizations that provide or refer for "the full range of legally permissible gynecological and obstetric care" (read: not the Catholic Church, which has already been tussling with the Obama administration over insurance coverage of birth control).

Continue Reading...

Duncan noted that the title of the bill, like most bills, is "a motherhood-and-apple-pie title," but "if you voted [based] on the title, you'd vote for every bill up here. If we'd all done that, the country would have crashed a long time ago."

Though he voted for the bill's reauthorization in 2005, Duncan added that he has to look at the budget implications of the latest version. "Last time my main concern was the money," he said.

The VAWA, which the Senate approved last week, was allowed to expire in September 2011, and stalled several times in 2012 over a new set of protections carved out for LGBT, undocumented immigrant and Native American women.

Continue Reading...

The 78-22 Senate vote to reauthorize the two-decade-old act that has shielded millions of women from abuse and helped reduce national rates of domestic violence turns the focus to the House, where Republican leaders are working to come up with their own version.

"Over 160 million women across the country are watching and waiting to see if the House will act on this bill and finally provide them the protections from violence they deserve," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

The act expired in 2011, putting efforts to improve its many federal programs on hold. Last year both the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate passed renewal bills, but they were unable to reach a compromise.

This year House Republicans, sensitive to their lackluster showing among women voters in the November election, have vowed to move expeditiously on the issue. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has taken the lead in negotiating the terms of a House bill.

Continue Reading...

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the scaled-back version of the bill, which failed by a vote of 34-65. Among the 34 Republicans to vote for the bill were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., the only female senator who is not a co-sponsoring the version of the VAWA that will likely be voted on on Monday.

The new protections for LGBT, immigrant and Native American women were a big reason why Republicans opposed the reauthorization bill in the last session of Congress. VAWA had been allowed to expire in September, 2011, and stalled several times over the course of 2012.

From the Huffington Post, Grassley's version would also reorient the law to focus on men as well:

Continue Reading...

The tribal court provisions. Currently, non-Native men who abuse Native American women on reservations can — and do — get away with it, since federal prosecutors can’t and don’t prosecute all such cases. The expanded VAWA would give tribal courts jurisdiction, something that has met with remarkably vehement opposition by some Republicans, who seem to fear that the mostly white men it would affect would have their rights violated. Notably, not all Republicans: congressmen Tom Cole and Darrell Issa have proposed a compromise that would allow those men to appeal to the feds if they objected to their treatment by the tribal courts, and Cole met with Eric Cantor about it yesterday.

Continue Reading...

In an email alert on Monday, the FRC decried the VAWA ("which, ironically, is supported by the same administration that wants to put women in front-line combat!") as an "abuse of taxpayer dollars" that "does more to promote a radical agenda than it does to help women."

The email quoted conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who also opposes VAWA. "In its 17 years of operation," Schlafly wrote on TownHall.com, VAWA "has done little or no good for real victims of domestic violence, while its funds have been used to fill feminist coffers and to lobby for feminist objectives and laws. Although every spending bill should be subject to rigorous auditing procedures in order to curb waste and fraud, VAWA has somehow ducked accountability for the [$660 million] a year it doles out to radical feminist organizations."

Continue Reading...

In an new video, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee asks: "But what will Eric Cantor and Tea Party House Republicans do?" highlighting reports that Cantor, R-Va., was the one holding up reauthorization in the House.

Watch:

On Monday, the Senate voted 85-8 to take up VAWA, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has said that the bill has the votes to pass out of the Senate. It's expected to pass by the end of the week with bipartisan support.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, even referenced House Republicans who have blocked it. “This is not and never should be a partisan political issue,” she said in a speech on the Senate floor. “This is an equal-opportunity crime that harms people regardless of their political affiliation, their profession or their status in life. It’s an issue that deserves bipartisan support.”

Continue Reading...

Leahy tweeted:

[embedtweet id="297034402700083200"]

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.

Continue Reading...

HuffPo's Jennifer Bendery reports:

The Senate will vote early next week to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, senior Democratic aides told The Huffington Post on Monday.

The Senate has been moving with lightning speed to get VAWA up and out the door. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced their bill last Tuesday and, a day later, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced that he was expediting it to the floor and bypassing the committee process.

Continue Reading...

“This lifesaving legislation should be a top priority of the new 113th Congress,” Leahy said in a statement.  “It is our hope that the Senate will act quickly to pass this strong, bipartisan bill to help all victims of domestic and sexual violence.”

“The Violence Against Women Act has helped countless victims of domestic and relationship violence for nearly 20 years,” Crapo said. “The path to reauthorization in the 113th Congress begins with reintroduction, and I look forward to working with Senator Leahy and my colleagues on compromise language that can garner the necessary support in both the Senate and House to pass this critical legislation.”

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...