Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Other Day, the House passed VAWA

They passed it in the following fashion:

By a vote of 166-257, the GOP version of the Violence Against Women Act failed to win a majority after almost 90 minutes of debate. The House then voted 286-138 to pass the Senate version, with 87 Republicans joining all 199 Democrats to provide majority support. 
Originally passed in 1994 and reauthorized since, the act provides support for organizations that serve domestic violence victims. Criminal prosecutions of abusers are generally the responsibility of local authorities, but the act stiffened sentences for stalking under federal law.
Supporters credit the act with sharply reducing the number of lives lost to domestic violence over the past two decades. 
Last year, the House and Senate were unable to compromise on another extension of the act, with Republicans opposing Democratic attempts to specify inclusion of native Americans, undocumented immigrants and lesbian, transgender and bisexual women.
This seems to indicate that there is a specifically Republican contingent of representatives who have no interest at all in the concern of domestic violence, and I would level the charge, specifically the concern of domestic violence against women. In fact, there were a number of representatives who voted against both bills, causing one to wonder if they would have supported any domestic violence protection measures whatsoever.

Via ThinkProgress, they are:

Aren't they something to point and stare at?

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