Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released a statement after the President signed the bill praising the bill. You see, Sen. Cornyn championed the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting (SAFER) Act which made it into the final version of the VAWA bill. The Senator pushed very hard for it when it was its own stand-alone bill. Once it was part of VAWA, he backed away from it... until it passed.
His statement:
“An unacceptable national backlog of untested rape kits has compounded the pain for too many victims of sexual assault over the years. Today, we take a significant step toward reducing that backlog.
“I’m pleased with the wide bipartisan support the SAFER Act received and with the President’s signature today, law enforcement can begin working immediately to test outstanding kits and see that justice is served.”
The press release goes on to outline the provisions of the SAFER portion of VAWA.
Nowhere in the press release does it say anything about him voting no on the bill.
Sen. Cornyn is not the only Republican trying to deliberately mislead constituents. Congressman Steve King (R-IA) has a post on his website with the title "King Votes in Support of Violence Against Women Act." It's only when you click into the post that you discover that he says he voted for the House version. I could not find a post that points out that he voted against the final version of the bill, Was Rep. King embarrassed that he voted against helping women who are raped or victims of domestic violence? Perhaps that's why his website is void of any mention of his no vote.
"Although I am concerned that this bill was brought to the floor in a manner that undermined work done by the Judiciary Committee, I understand the importance of reauthorizing VAWA to ensure its resources are available to help fight domestic abuse and sexual assault," said King. "I supported this legislation because I know how important it is to empower women in difficult situations. 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."
Sen. Cornyn is not the only Republican trying to deliberately mislead constituents. Congressman Steve King (R-IA) has a post on his website with the title "King Votes in Support of Violence Against Women Act." It's only when you click into the post that you discover that he says he voted for the House version. I could not find a post that points out that he voted against the final version of the bill, Was Rep. King embarrassed that he voted against helping women who are raped or victims of domestic violence? Perhaps that's why his website is void of any mention of his no vote.
The lone post on the topic features a quote from Rep. King on VAWA:
"Although I am concerned that this bill was brought to the floor in a manner that undermined work done by the Judiciary Committee, I understand the importance of reauthorizing VAWA to ensure its resources are available to help fight domestic abuse and sexual assault," said King. "I supported this legislation because I know how important it is to empower women in difficult situations. 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."
He understands it, but doesn't think it is important enough to support the version of the bill with the most protections. At best, he's a hypocrite.
Both of these men should be ashamed of themselves. They vote to take away protections from women and then tout the passing of those protections and publish posts claiming they voted for it, in Rep. King's case. Sen. Cornyn deliberately voted against something he has been pushing for. This doesn't make any sense. Maybe they should go volunteer at a battered women's shelter or something to open their eyes. I'm not sure I'd want to subject the women there to men like them though.
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