Violence Against Women Act
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) was a U.S. federal law signed by President Bill Clinton on Sept. 13, 1994. It provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, and established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice. The VAWA was reauthorized by Congress in 2000, and again in December 2005, but its 2012 renewal was opposed by conservative Republicans, who objected to extending the Act’s protections to same-sex couples and to provisions allowing battered illegal immigrants to claim temporary visas. In April 2012, the Senate voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and the House subsequently passed its own measure (omitting provisions of the Senate bill that would protect gay men, lesbians, American Indians living in reservations, and illegal immigrants who were victims of domestic violence). Reconciliation of the two bills was stymied by procedural measures, and on Jan. 2, 2013, the Senate’s 2012 reauthorization was not brought up for a vote in the House, effectively ending the Bill after 18 years in effect. [ Wikipedia →]
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Republicans told Elizabeth Warren to shut up and sit down, and that is violence
Thursday, February 9, 201749 Republican Senators voted to censure a woman for not following a rule they don't expect men to follow. -
Obama signs LGBT-inclusive domestic violence bill
Thursday, March 7, 2013WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Thursday signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization bill into law. -
U.S. House approves anti-violence law with LGBT protections
Thursday, February 28, 2013WASHINGTON -- House Republicans raised the white flag Thursday on extending domestic violence protections to gays, lesbians and transsexuals after months of resisting an expansion of the Violence Against Women Act. -
House to take up Senate’s LGBT-inclusive version of anti-violence act
Wednesday, February 27, 2013WASHINGTON — Congress appeared on a course to renew the expired Violence Against Women Act after House Republican leaders on Tuesday agreed to take up a version of the 1994 anti-domestic violence law that passed the… -
House GOP to strip protections for gays in its version of anti-violence act
Saturday, February 23, 2013WASHINGTON — The House and Senate appeared headed for another partisan battle as the House prepared to take up its version of the once-noncontroversial Violence Against Women Act. -
Boehner: House may consider Senate version of Violence Against Women Act
Thursday, February 14, 2013WASHINGTON -- U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that the GOP's House leadership is considering a plan for moving forward with the Violence Against Women Act legislation. -
Senate renews Violence Against Women Act with new protections for gays
Tuesday, February 12, 2013WASHINGTON -- By a robust bipartisan majority, the Senate voted Tuesday to renew the Violence Against Women Act with new assurances that gays and lesbians, immigrants and Native American women will have equal access to the… -
U.S. Senate poised to renew gay-inclusive domestic violence law
Thursday, February 7, 2013WASHINGTON — The Senate is poised to rewrite the federal government's principal anti-domestic abuse law with new protections for gays, lesbians, immigrants and Native American women. -
Senate launches new effort to move on gay-inclusive anti-violence bill
Monday, February 4, 2013WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, bolstered by Republican support, on Monday launched a new attempt to broaden a law protecting women from domestic abuse by expanding its provisions to cover gays, lesbians and Native Americans. -
Democrats work to extend gay-inclusive anti-violence bill
Wednesday, January 23, 2013Congressional Democrats have renewed their push to revive the key federal program that protects women against domestic violence. They sought to diminish Republican objections that blocked passage of the legislation last year by removing a provision…
