The ObamaCrat.Com™

By Jueseppi B.

The “War On Women” continues. Now GOPretenders are telling us that violence against women is acceptable and not a very high priority. Are YOU a woman who is voting for the TeaTardedRepubliCANTS? Please contact me here, at the ObamaCrat.com, and explain why.

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law. It was passed as Title IV, sec. 40001-40703 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, H.R. 3355, and signed as Pub.L. 103-322 by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. It provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of violent crimes perpetrated against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted.

VAWA was drafted by then U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden‘s office with support from a number of advocacy organizations including the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the Texas Council on Family Violence, Futures Without Violence, National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Legal Momentum and The National Organization for Women, which described the bill as “the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades.”

VAWA was reauthorized by Congress in 2000, and again in December 2005.

The Office on Violence Against Women was statutorily established within the United States Department of Justice following the passage of the reauthorization of VAWA in 2000. It has the authority to administer some the grants authorized under VAWA, as well as develop federal policy around issues relating to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The Office is led by a Director whose appointment has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. VAWA also increased funding for direct services for victims of domestic violence through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

VAWA will be up for reauthorization in 2012. BUT with a “Negro” President in the “White Mans House” who RepubliCANTS have vowed to obstruct, and with the mission statement of the TeaTardedRepubliCANTS to keep POTUS Obama from re-election by any means necessary, the re-authorization of the VAWA, is in danger.

Even in the ultrapolarized atmosphere of Capitol Hill, it should be possible to secure broad bipartisan agreement on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, the 1994 law at the center of the nation’s efforts to combat domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. The law’s renewal has strong backing from law enforcement and groups that work with victims, and earlier reauthorizations of the law, in 2000 and 2005, passed Congress with strong support from both sides of the aisle.

Yet not a single Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor last week when the committee approved a well-crafted reauthorization bill introduced by its chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy, and Senator Michael Crapo, a Republican of Idaho, who is not on the committee.

The bill includes smart improvements aimed, for example, at encouraging effective enforcement of protective orders and reducing the national backlog of untested rape kits. The Republican opposition seems driven largely by an antigay, anti-immigrant agenda. The main sticking points seemed to be language in the bill to ensure that victims are not denied services because they are gay or transgender and a provision that would modestly expand the availability of special visas for undocumented immigrants who are victims of domestic violence — a necessary step to encourage those victims to come forward.

Senator Charles Grassley, the committee’s ranking Republican, offered a substitute bill that not only cut out those improvements but called for a huge reduction in authorized financing, and elimination of the Justice Department office devoted to administering the law and coordinating the nation’s response to domestic violence and sexual assaults. His measure was defeated along party lines.

Mustering the 60 votes needed to get the bill through the full Senate will not be easy, even though previous reauthorizations were approved by unanimous consent. Recalcitrant Republicans should be made to explain to voters why they refuse to get behind the federal fight against domestic violence and sexual assaults.

Once again….if you are a women and you vote for the GOPretenders, The RepubliCANTS The Reich Wingers, The TeaParty baggers or the Conselfishservatives….please explain to me why.

“Disagree Intelligently, Use Facts, Truth & Common Sense.”

Related articles

• Spending on Domestic Violence becomes a Pawn in the Culture Wars (skydancingblog.com)
• Republicans Retreat on Domestic Violence – NYTimes.com (rapeinfo.wordpress.com)
• Republicans Unsupportive on Reauthorization of Domestic Violence Act (gofishministries.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Causes, News, Opinion, Politics, Women's Causes | Tagged: Domestic violence, Mike Crapo, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Office on Violence Against Women, United States, United States Department of Justice, VAWA, Violence Against Women Act | 4 Comments »