House GOP blocks Violence Against Women Act

[Richardo]

Source: Maddow Blog

Congress had a lengthy to-do list as the end of the year approached, with a series of measures that needed action before 2013 began. Some of the items passed (a fiscal agreement, a temporary farm bill), while others didn’t (relief funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy).

And then there’s the Violence Against Women Act, which was supposed to be one of the year’s easy ones. It wasn’t.

Back in April, the Senate approved VAWA reauthorization fairly easily, with a 68 to 31 vote. The bill was co-written by a liberal Democrat (Vermont’s Pat Leahy) and a conservative Republican (Idaho’s Mike Crapo), and seemed on track to be reauthorized without much of a fuss, just as it was in 2000 and 2005.

But House Republicans insisted the bill is too supportive of immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans — and they’d rather let the law expire than approve a slightly expanded proposal. Vice President Biden, who helped write the original law, tried to persuade House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to keep the law alive, but the efforts didn’t go anywhere.




Read more: http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/02/16305284-house-gop-blocks-violence-against-women-act?lite

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And so, for the first time since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act is no more.

What a bunch of cowardly, subhuman fucking fuckheads.

[Panasonic]

1. Republicans needs to be put on notice that 2014 is their end.

And it will be a massive loss.

I don't care about the gerrymanders - all the voters WANT to know the truth. And we need to pound the ground educating these low-information voters and let them know that the Republicans are responsible on what is ailing them.

[barbtries]

6. at the very least.

i am always amazed at how many people in this country are not just embarrassed to death to be republicans. i keep thinking they should be running, sprinting into the democratic party. it's going to take a lot to get these people to turn off their corporate media which feeds them a steady diet of bullshit and actually pay attention to what's going on.

[lexw]

13. Nah. My inlaws are still complaining about money being "given" to the needy (lazy is their term).

...and my in-laws were most likely given aid when they immigrated here decades ago.
Today they are they types who think, pretend and vote like they are in the 1%. Can't figure that one out.

[Flybywire]

27. lexw, My inlaws too.

About my uncle and father-in-laws emails: Their goal has been to spam my email until I think that they are disgusting, immoral creeps and they have succeeded. Today however, I had to write back after the same crap I've got from them over and over again about blaming the poorest and most vulnerable for the country's problems. It is NOTHING BUT BULLYING and I told them so. Does the bully in the playground blame the large football jock for his problems? No. He beats up the skinny little black child and brags about it.
I feel good that I've finally told them what I think about them.

[lexw]

57. Good for you!

[Tigress DEM]

56. Agreed. Can we vote on it now? Early early, EARLY voting. nt

[barbtries]

2. can they revive it in the new congress?

it can't be allowed to just disappear.
gawd i hate republicans, they're such bastards. grrr

[Richardo]

4. If Cantor is speaker I'd say it won't happen.

If Boehner somehow survives he'll be too cowed to bring it for a vote.

[ReRe]

23. Boehner just resigned...

and shit-eating-grin Eric Cantor is waiting in the wings. The decision was probably made long ago. Yeah, he will probably not let the VAWA come to a vote.

[Scairp]

28. Really?

That's news to, well, pretty much everyone but, apparently, you. Where did you get that info?

[ReRe]

34. I seen it on the Home Page here on DU...

... but I just went to look for it and it's not there now... Will look some more on the latest threads... Maybe it wasn't corroborated, so they took it down?

[ReRe]

39. Here is a follow up I found...

...on latest threads...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022119234

[ReRe]

42. OK..here is the headline I seen...

...on Home page...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022119005

[SummerSnow]

31. Really? Do u have a link to that resignation? NOOOO

[ReRe]

36. I seen it on the Home page right here on DU

..but just now went back and looked for it and it's gone. Will go look on the latest threads and see if I can find it. Maybe it was taken down because it was uncorroborated? I did see it, though... Will keep looking and try to get back here and post a link to it... Sorry...

[ReRe]

40. Here is a follow-up I found...

...latest threads in reference to the evident "rumor"...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022119234

[ReRe]

43. OK...here is a link to the headline....

...I seen on the front page of DU:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022119005

[Berlum]

3. The Republican WAR ON WOMEN slithers into 2013

[florida08]

5. what sociopaths

that have been elected to the Peoples House. Apparently it's now the House of horrors.

[Myrina]

7. Can POTUS issue an Executive Order?

VAWA really needs to exist and be fully funded.

[ReRe]

24. Good...

...question.

[onenote]

35. No. The President can't just decree a law into existence.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Let's see... NO to aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

And NO to the Violence Against Women Act.
And FUCK YOU to every damn thing that would actually help people who aren't already filthy rich.

John Kenneth Galbraith said it best: "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

[oldbanjo]

38. That sounds like Ayn Rand.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

45. Sure does.

[KansDem]

9. This comment from the blog says it all about the GOP

Abusing the filibuster, blocking legislation, the Debt ceiling debacle are all examples of 'Rule or Ruin' The Zealots either get their way or they damage as much as possible.

'Rule or Ruin'

This way beyond "The Party of No" This is active deliberate destruction.

The GOP is indeed the Party of "Rule or Ruin."

[bunnies]

10. Any woman that votes for these assholes needs her head examined.

Seriously. I have nothing but contempt for these people at this point.

[Ohio Joe]

11. The War on Women marches forward - nt

[DreamGypsy]

12. A great Republican quote is repeated in a comment on the blog...

...a quote from the great Republican Abraham Lincoln, in his Cooper Union Speech before he was selected as the presidential candidate for his party:

Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.

Pretty well describes how Cantor/Boehner and their ilk view the mission.

Also from the blog:

And so, for the first time since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act is no more. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Democratic point person on VAWA, said in a statement:

"The House Republican leadership's failure to take up and pass the Senate's bipartisan and inclusive VAWA bill is inexcusable. This is a bill that passed with 68 votes in the Senate and that extends the bill's protections to 30 million more women. But this seems to be how House Republican leadership operates. No matter how broad the bipartisan support, no matter who gets hurt in the process, the politics of the right wing of their party always comes first."

The VAWA must be taken up again when the lame ducks fly away.

[Angry Dragon]

19. They will be gone tomorrow

[Flybywire]

14. Only Jesus can decide whether a woman enjoys rape or not.

Sounds vulgar but, I hear very similar things spewing from Tea Partier's mouths.

[Flybywire]

20. Holy cow! On the same day we hear news that Saudi Religious leaders endorse rape!

Why did this remind me of Tea Party Congressmen?
<http://www.salon.com/2013/01/02/saudi_religious_leader_calls_for_gang_rape_of_syrian_women/>

Will the USA speak out against this immoral attitude? NO. Because oil money ties us together. Never say anything bad about the Saudis. Conservatives still continue to lie to themselves and us that all the hijackers came from Afghanistan instead of where they actually came from. Don't upset the Saudi creeps. No. Can't do that.

[uppityperson]

15. k&r& fu gop

[onehandle]

16. They Love You Wiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmeeeeeennnnnn! nt

[HockeyMom]

17. My lesbian daughter was in an abusive relationship

with her partner who she lived with. She doesn't have the same rights as a wife against her MALE husband? Assault is assault regardless of the gender of abuser. Fortunately, she lived in NY and it was treated as a domestic abuse situation. It should not matter where a woman lives; North, South, or Native Reservation either.

[Angry Dragon]

18. I guess we can assume republicans hate women

[NICO9000]

41. I'm pretty sure there's no doubt about it

Their hatred of everyone but rich white men is obvious to anyone with a working brain.

[smirkymonkey]

21. Those bastards!

They have got to go. The GOP clearly does not work for anyone but old, extremely rich, white Christian men. They are obsolete.

[The Magistrate]

22. Wife-Beaters Are A Major Part Of Their Voting Bloc, Sir: They Had To Do This

"The only good Republicans I ever saw are dead."

[AndyTiedye]

25. RAPEuglicans Think Violence Against Women is Just Fine

[niyad]

26. there is apparently no end to the hatred these "people" (and I use the term most advisedly) have

for women. their successes in the last few years have emboldened them to the point that they do not even have to pretend in the slightest anymore.

they are beginning to remind me of hyras--you cut off the heads (vote them out) and two more, even crazier, even more hate-filled, seem to take their place.

[SoapBox]

29. The War on Women continues.

...it never ended.

Period.

[ReRe]

30. Of course they blocked the VAWA...

...because they support the rapers/assaulters. And of course, Patti Murray will have to slap a new number on it and resubmit it in the Senate and get it rolling again in the 113th Congress. And she will. And THEN, if Speaker Cantor (I assume he will be swept into Speakership) won't let it come to a vote, every female Democrat needs to stand on the corners of his district in NC and make a BIG NOISE. If he won't let the VAWA come to a vote, then he himself is a raper/assaulter of women everywhere!

[Disconnect]

32. VAWA discriminates against Men!!!!!!

I was in a heterosexual relationship with an abusive female and got NO help from VAWA. If a law is to be funded by public money it should protect ALL from domestic abuse, not just human females!!!!

[thebard77]

60. You're absolutely correct

Men rarely believe other men when it comes to issues of domestic abuse and violence. We are wired to automatically believe women in cases of abuse. Women also sympathize directly with other women. It is a product of our social evolution. Compound this with the concept of "proper manly behavior" and you have an entire society that is hell bent to not believe that an abused man needs help. For what its worth, I'm sorry that happened to you. Its not right and its not fair.

[SheilaT]

33. It's also that they are men.

With all due respect to the many men who do get it about violence against women, far too many men -- especially those idiot Republicans -- just haven't a clue.

[LW1977]

37. Waiting for the DU nitpickers to blame this on Obama..

This happened because Obama caved somehow blah blah blah

[Solly Mack]

44. I wish for them the exact same as they wish for me.

[april]

46. And what was their Reason??????????

[liberalhistorian]

49. The main sticking point is that it extends

native american tribal jurisdiction over non-member DV offenders. Right now, tribal courts have no jurisdiction over non-native and non-member offenders; only the U.S. Attorney's office for that particular district has jurisdiction. But said federal prosecutors are often not interested in prosecuting non-natives (who are primarily white, although not always), especially if it's a misdemeanor offense. They're too busy putting the screws to Indians for even minor drug offenses to bother with non-Indians who abuse, assault, rape and beat the shit out of Indian women. Indian women basically have to be killed or mortally wounded for them to bother with said prosecution.

But the GOP doesn't want tribes to have jurisdiction over non-members (again, mainly white men), despite the fact that DV and assaults/rapes against Indian women are at an all-time high and the main perpetrators are white men. Motherfuckers doesn't even begin to describe them.

[Posteritatis]

47. "too supportive of immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans" .. Just wow. (nt)

[stultusporcos]

48. and some STILL think those that are members of the GOP

and those that vote for them can be reasoned with.
F it just give them the former Confederacy and we go our separate ways.
It has become entirely pointless to even deal with them anymore.
Yes in case you ask this is the most civil solution to the problem of the red states I have and would support.

[DCBob]

50. unbelievable.

what is wrong with these sick bastards?

[liberalhistorian]

51. My husband and I are white, but we live on reservations in Indian country,

and hubby's an attorney in tribal law. We've seen firsthand the rampant DV and assaults that Indian women are suffering, but too much of the time nothing is done because the perpetrators are non-natives (mainly white men) and tribal courts have no jurisdiction over them. But the district's U.S. Attorney, who DOES have jurisdiction, often doesn't bother with prosecution; they're too busy putting the screws to Indians for even misdemeanor drug charges to bother with prosecuting whites who rape, assault, or beat the shit out of Indian women. They often have to be killed or mortally wounded before such prosecution will take place. Non-members know this and often take advantage of it.

The new version of the VAWA included giving tribal courts jurisdiction over non-member offenders and that is what the goddamned scum-sucking women-and-minority-and-minority-women-hating GOP was against, and the main sticking point. www.Indianz.com had a great op-ed the other day entitled "GOP protecting white men from prosecution", which is pretty much what it's all about. I have no words for these fuckers or for the damage they are responsible for perpetuating.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

52. Yet another "No Romney no deal" revenge tactic

[DonCoquixote]

53. how much ya wanna bet

This was also a bit of a way to slide the knife into Biden? VAWA is arguably his greatest legacy short of being the VP.

[catbyte]

54. Maggots

[Auntie Bush]

55. The ReThugs just lost women F O R E V E R !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cha]

58. Christy should be raging about this too, as well as no AID for the Sandy

victims!