Violence Against Women Act Receives Opposition from Republicans
In their latest attempt to point out that the Republican Party hates women’s rights, Democrats in the Senate spoke on Thursday for the re-authorization of the The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). For the first time since it was passed in 1994, the Republican party is pushing back on the bill, causing many women, both in government and out, to protest. Female democratic senators are in an uproar over the GOP’s push back, especially after the past few months and what Democrats have come to call the GOP’s “war against women.”
On Thursday, Senator Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said from the Senate floor that, “Protecting women against violence shouldn’t be a partisan issue.” A group of female senators joined her on the floor in a push to renew and expand the law, which fights violence against women, and also pays to help its victims. The timing for the Senate debate could not have been more perfect, as it comes after
The main reason for resistance from Republicans is that a few new provisions in the VAWA add protections for undocumented people (such as illegal immigrants), the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community, and also those who reside on Indian reservations. These proposed changes have made people, such as anti-immigrant Republican Jeff Sessions, cringe. Session stated that, “there are matters put on that bill that almost seem to invite opposition.”
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said of both the bill and the timing that “[the Democrats’] plan isn’t to work together to make it easier to create jobs but to look for ways to make it easier to keep their own, then use it for campaign ads in the run-up to the November elections.” McConnell protested Thursday’s debate, reportedly because it was distracting from another issue that was on the agenda for discussion–a small business bill that could potentially create jobs.
Do you think that Republicans’ “war on women” is a reality?
