VAWA Passes House Despite Some Republican Opposition

Last week the House finally passed the Violence Against Women Act, which the Senate had passed earlier.  The Republicans in the House had been holding up this legislation for quite some time.  Speaker Boehner finally brought the Senate version of the bill to the floor for a vote and it passed 286-138, winning over 199 Democrats and 87 Republicans.

The Republicans had proposed their own version of VAWA, which did not include the same protections for LGBT, Native Americans living on reservations or undocumented women.  It would create extra steps for Native women that are brutalized on reservations to find justice.  It would also create very strict guidelines for undocumented victims.  LGBT families would not be included in the protections.

Megan Whittemore, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said, “The House is expected to take up a strong Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization...so we can protect all women from acts of violence and help law enforcement prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law.”  Apparently she thinks excluding certain groups from protection constitutes "all women."

This is why it was really no shock when Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) admitted that she opposed VAWA because it granted protections to those groups. 

When you start to make this about other things it becomes an “against violence act” and not a targeted focus act… I didn’t like the way it was expanded to include other different groups. What you need is something that is focused specifically to help the shelters and to help out law enforcement, who is trying to work with the crimes that have been committed against women and helping them to stand up. 

Watch here:

Ah, I see.  If only we used the money to open new crisis centers and shelters, maybe on reservations, she would support it.  And then there is that bit about diluting the money that goes to the existing shelters, so she probably wouldn't want new shelters being opened either.  The only way I read her comments is that she is upset that these extra provisions are taking away money from women in her district, her predominately white district.  If she was truly about protecting women, adding more groups of women to protect would not be a problem for her.

I won't even touch how she seems to oppose an "against violence act."

These groups do need protection just as much as any women in America do.  If a lesbian is the victim of domestic violence does she not deserve justice?  Does an immigrant deserve justice?

There is currently an epidemic of sexual assaults on Native American reservations.  This is why it was so important for this provision to be included.  While it's estimated that 1 out of 6 American women will be raped and/or sexually assaulted in her lifetime, more than 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped in her lifetime.  And 80% of rapes on reservations are committed by non-natives.  This creates many legal hurdles for reservation authorities.  Only Federal authorities can prosecute crimes on tribal lands.  This means that many rapes are not reported.

An NPR investigation also revealed a system underfunded and often broken: a tribal health center inadequately staffed and without rape kits to collect DNA from victims; tribal leaders and Native police unable to prosecute non-native perpetrators; and a patchwork of confusing jurisdictions in which federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement intersect and clash with each other.