House GOP blocks Violence Against Women Act

[ismnotwasm]

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.

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."

Proponents of the law hope to revive the law in the new Congress, starting from scratch, but in the meantime, there will be far fewer resources available for state and local governments to combat domestic violence.

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

[jody]

1. But, "NASCAR to rum, the 10 weirdest parts of the ‘fiscal cliff’ bill"

See Coyotl's OP http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2118531

[caseymoz]

2. Criminal nt

[seabeyond]

3. i stated just two days ago, when someone asked where repugs go now

that they got their ass handed to them.

women.

they go after the women.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

4. Liberty and justice for................who?

We're okay spending money to investigate violent crimes but:
- not if the victim is LGBT
- not if the victim is an illegal alien
- not if the victim is a woman living on a reservation

The message:
It's fine to rape Native American women on the reservation and retreat back across the reservation border and rape some illegal aliens or just engage in relaxing night of gay bashing.

IMHO the chief role of government is to see that freedom of the many respects the rights of the few.

< http://www.clanstar.org/files/SR/SovereigntySafety_vol.xiii.pdf > (page 2) Speaking to tribal leaders President Obama stated, "The shocking and contemptible fact that one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes is an assault on our national conscience that we can no longer ignore."

Let me get this straight. The Clinton administration passed this legislation and the Bush administration reauthorized it. Now some members of the House have dropped the ball. Isn't time to take some names and vote the bastards out?

The Act's 2012 renewal was fiercely opposed by conservative Republicans, who objected to extending the Act's protections to same-sex couples and to provisions allowing battered illegal immigrants to claim temporary visas. In April 2012, the Senate voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and the House subsequently passed its own measure (omitting provisions of the Senate bill that would protect gay men, lesbians, American Indians living in reservations, and illegal immigrants who were victims of domestic violence). Reconciliation of the two bills has been stymied by procedural measures, leaving the reauthorization in question.

On January 2, 2013, The Senate's 2012 reauthorization of VAWA was not brought up for a vote in the House; effectively ending the Bill after 18 years in effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_Against_Women_Act