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A house divided: Violence Against Women Act renewal approved under scrutiny
By Kelley Chambers, kchambers@starlocalnews.com
The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, a legislation that has provided federal assistance to victims of domestic and sexual violence for nearly 20 years.
Reauthorizing the landmark 1994 law, the bill passed with a 286-138 vote and is awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature. It was approved after months of delay, as GOP leaders allowed it on the floor only after its substitute version was defeated in a 166-257 vote.
Introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in January, the act works to protect victims, prevent abuse and strengthen legal actions taken against offenders. It also helps create and support rape crisis centers, hotlines and community support programs, as well as provides money for investigating and prosecuting violent crimes against women through the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
The bill passed the Senate 78-22 on Feb. 12, with all Democrats, all women and a majority of Republicans supporting the bill. The Senate passed a nearly identical measure last April but was met with gridlock in the House.
“We made the Violence Against Women Act our top priority this Congress but it should not have taken this long,” Leahy said in a statement. “Still, at a time when we face gridlock and stonewalling on even the most compelling issues, I am glad to see that we could find a way to cut through all of that to help victims of violence.”
Although the “ping-pong” effect of politics surrounding the issue can be somewhat disheartening for its ability to slow the process, having the domestic violence issue at the forefront of the federal government is helpful when it comes to increasing overall awareness, said Patrice Tosi, executive director of Hope’s Door in Plano. For 26 years, the domestic abuse crisis center and shelter has provided counseling, legal aid, shelter and transitional housing for victims of domestic violence and their families.
In the past, Hope’s Door has received roughly $50,000 from VAWA funding to pay for its one legal advocate on staff. The shelter is currently not receiving funding for this position, however, due in part to the bill stalling in Congress, but mostly due to the fact that it receives funding for the position through other government grants.
“The real advantage we’ve encountered has been increased awareness just from having the bill,” Tosi said. “It’s bringing the issue out. It’s a silent epidemic because nobody talks about it. But it crosses all economic statuses and crosses all boundaries. If the federal government is bringing it up, we’re finally having that awareness.”
Although this isn’t the first time Congress has reauthorized the act – it has been renewed twice before since being written by now-Vice President Joe Biden – it is the first time it has received this much non-bipartisanship, said Dr. Calvin Jillson, political science professor at SMU.
This time, the bill came under political fire from Republican lawmakers who opposed new provisions laid out by Democrats, which expand it further to include protections for gay, bisexual or transgender victims of domestic abuse. In addition, the bill also allows American Indian women assaulted on reservations by non-Indians to take their case to tribal courts, something the courts currently do not have jurisdiction over.
“The original passage of the act did have bipartisan support, and on the face of it you’d think it always would because no one favors violence against women,” Jillson said. “What happened over the intervening almost 20 years is that lots of issues related to women have become more highly political.”
The failed House bill offered the same provision, but also offered non-Indian defendants the possibility to take their case to a federal court.
Jillson referred to the 2012 election to explain how politics have become the playing field for women’s rights because of the polarization between the parties. Obama beat Mitt Romney at the polls, earning 55 percent of the female vote. Republicans have also lost several high-profile races while receiving backlash from female voters over controversial comments made by candidates about rape or abortion.
Since then, Jillson said, the Republican Party has backed off some to allow approvals of bills like the VAWA and the immigration bill recently passed.
“The parties are separating ideologically but the problem is that Republicans are on the wrong side of the issue in terms of public opinion,” Jillson said. “One of the dangers the Republican Party faces on this issue comes up in a number of different ways. They’re being viewed as not being as interested as Democrats are in protecting women. For social conservatives within the Republican Party, extending additional rights to lesbians and bisexuals is something that they have a great deal of trouble thinking about.”
In addition to the added provisions, some critics of the VAWA look at statistics to back up their claims that the act has proven to be ineffective in reducing violent acts upon women.
Looking back, the act brought about practical changes meant to change law enforcement’s perspective on domestic assault cases as serious crimes rather than private family matters. It also provides grant funding and encourages states to adopt mandatory arrest policies to push abuse cases forward.
According to the Department of Justice, the rate of intimate partner violence dropped 64 percent between 1994 and 2010, a drop pro-VAWA policymakers largely attribute to the law.
This decrease happened at the same time violent crime as a whole fell dramatically nationwide, making it hard to know whether a drop in domestic violence might have happened without the policies adopted under VAWA.
With 3,000 reports of domestic abused being filed in Collin County and 27 percent of cases going unreported, Tosi said she believes VAWA is helping make strides in eradicating violence against women, but there is still much more work to be done.
“Politics shouldn’t be involved in it, it’s about human lives and saving lives,” she said. “It’s taken [politicians] this long to include other sectors of the population and domestic violence is in every relationship. People say VAWA isn’t doing enough and that’s true, but there is still so much to do.”
Reauthorizing the landmark 1994 law, the bill passed with a 286-138 vote and is awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature. It was approved after months of delay, as GOP leaders allowed it on the floor only after its substitute version was defeated in a 166-257 vote.
Introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in January, the act works to protect victims, prevent abuse and strengthen legal actions taken against offenders. It also helps create and support rape crisis centers, hotlines and community support programs, as well as provides money for investigating and prosecuting violent crimes against women through the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
The bill passed the Senate 78-22 on Feb. 12, with all Democrats, all women and a majority of Republicans supporting the bill. The Senate passed a nearly identical measure last April but was met with gridlock in the House.
“We made the Violence Against Women Act our top priority this Congress but it should not have taken this long,” Leahy said in a statement. “Still, at a time when we face gridlock and stonewalling on even the most compelling issues, I am glad to see that we could find a way to cut through all of that to help victims of violence.”
Although the “ping-pong” effect of politics surrounding the issue can be somewhat disheartening for its ability to slow the process, having the domestic violence issue at the forefront of the federal government is helpful when it comes to increasing overall awareness, said Patrice Tosi, executive director of Hope’s Door in Plano. For 26 years, the domestic abuse crisis center and shelter has provided counseling, legal aid, shelter and transitional housing for victims of domestic violence and their families.
In the past, Hope’s Door has received roughly $50,000 from VAWA funding to pay for its one legal advocate on staff. The shelter is currently not receiving funding for this position, however, due in part to the bill stalling in Congress, but mostly due to the fact that it receives funding for the position through other government grants.
“The real advantage we’ve encountered has been increased awareness just from having the bill,” Tosi said. “It’s bringing the issue out. It’s a silent epidemic because nobody talks about it. But it crosses all economic statuses and crosses all boundaries. If the federal government is bringing it up, we’re finally having that awareness.”
Although this isn’t the first time Congress has reauthorized the act – it has been renewed twice before since being written by now-Vice President Joe Biden – it is the first time it has received this much non-bipartisanship, said Dr. Calvin Jillson, political science professor at SMU.
This time, the bill came under political fire from Republican lawmakers who opposed new provisions laid out by Democrats, which expand it further to include protections for gay, bisexual or transgender victims of domestic abuse. In addition, the bill also allows American Indian women assaulted on reservations by non-Indians to take their case to tribal courts, something the courts currently do not have jurisdiction over.
“The original passage of the act did have bipartisan support, and on the face of it you’d think it always would because no one favors violence against women,” Jillson said. “What happened over the intervening almost 20 years is that lots of issues related to women have become more highly political.”
The failed House bill offered the same provision, but also offered non-Indian defendants the possibility to take their case to a federal court.
Jillson referred to the 2012 election to explain how politics have become the playing field for women’s rights because of the polarization between the parties. Obama beat Mitt Romney at the polls, earning 55 percent of the female vote. Republicans have also lost several high-profile races while receiving backlash from female voters over controversial comments made by candidates about rape or abortion.
Since then, Jillson said, the Republican Party has backed off some to allow approvals of bills like the VAWA and the immigration bill recently passed.
“The parties are separating ideologically but the problem is that Republicans are on the wrong side of the issue in terms of public opinion,” Jillson said. “One of the dangers the Republican Party faces on this issue comes up in a number of different ways. They’re being viewed as not being as interested as Democrats are in protecting women. For social conservatives within the Republican Party, extending additional rights to lesbians and bisexuals is something that they have a great deal of trouble thinking about.”
In addition to the added provisions, some critics of the VAWA look at statistics to back up their claims that the act has proven to be ineffective in reducing violent acts upon women.
Looking back, the act brought about practical changes meant to change law enforcement’s perspective on domestic assault cases as serious crimes rather than private family matters. It also provides grant funding and encourages states to adopt mandatory arrest policies to push abuse cases forward.
According to the Department of Justice, the rate of intimate partner violence dropped 64 percent between 1994 and 2010, a drop pro-VAWA policymakers largely attribute to the law.
This decrease happened at the same time violent crime as a whole fell dramatically nationwide, making it hard to know whether a drop in domestic violence might have happened without the policies adopted under VAWA.
With 3,000 reports of domestic abused being filed in Collin County and 27 percent of cases going unreported, Tosi said she believes VAWA is helping make strides in eradicating violence against women, but there is still much more work to be done.
“Politics shouldn’t be involved in it, it’s about human lives and saving lives,” she said. “It’s taken [politicians] this long to include other sectors of the population and domestic violence is in every relationship. People say VAWA isn’t doing enough and that’s true, but there is still so much to do.”
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