Sen. Cornyn & Rep. King Excited For The Passage of VAWA (Which They Voted Against)

With the passage of the Violence Against Women Act and signed into law again, most people were excited about it.  Even Republicans that voted against it were excited!

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.

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.

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.

Friday Shakedown

History was made yesterday when Senate Republicans filibustered Chuck Hagel's nomination for Secretary of Defense.  A President's nomination of a cabinet secretary has never been filibustered before.  Sometimes they will not win the confirmation vote but this isn't even being brought to a vote.  The filibuster is out of control and Harry Reid lost his chance to fix it.

Wayne LaPierre continued making a fool of himself to rational people while stroking his base yesterday.

After the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act, Speaker Boehner "might" consider bringing it to a vote in the House.  How considerate of him.

VAWA Passes in Senate 78-22

The Violence Against Women Act has passed in the Senate despite Republican efforts to dismantle different portions of the bill.  Sen. Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) sponsored amendments to remove protections for Native American, undocumented, and LGBT victims.  As if they were not worth protecting.  Are they not people too?  If their spouse hits them, do they not bruise?

Here are the smiling faces of those that voted against continuing programs to help women affected by domestic violence.

The Senators who voted agains the bill are:

John Barrasso (Wyo.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), John Boozman (Ark.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Cornyn (Texas), Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Orrin Hatch (Utah), James Inhofe (Okla.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Jim Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kansas), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), John Thune (S.D.) and Tim Scott (S.C.).

I'm sad to see that one of my Senators voted against the bill.


Image via ThinkProgress