From Addicting Info: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/27/house-republicans-surrender-prepare-to-pass-strengthened-violence-against-women-act/
By Stephen D. Foster Jr.
2013/02/27
In what would be an epic cave in and an epic victory for women across the country, House Republicans are preparing to bring the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act to the floor for a full vote.
Talking Points Memo reports that late Tuesday night, the Rules Committee “sent the House GOP’s version of the Violence Against Women Act to the floor with a key caveat: if that legislation fails, then the Senate-passed version will get an up-or-down vote.”
Over the next two days, it is expected that House Republicans will bring their version of VAWA to the floor for a vote where it will likely die. Then out of the ashes of that bill, the beefed up Senate version of the bill will rise and be passed by a coalition of Democrats and sane Republicans. In other words, moderate Republicans are going to ignore the Tea Party caucus of the House to do the right thing for women.
Renewal of the legislation had been hoped for last year, but House Republicans refused to bring the Senate version of the bill to a vote and it died when the 112th Congress came to an end. Republicans objected to new protections in the bill for undocumented immigrants, Native Americans, and same-sex partners. The Senate then returned for the 2013 session and promptly passed the strengthened version again by a vote of 78-22. Republicans accounted for the 22 opposing votes while Democrats and a combination of moderate Republicans pushed the bill to victory. Every woman in the Senate voted in support of the bill. And now the bill looks to be finally passed in the House complete with the new protections.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington told TPM that she praises these new developments in the debate on the bill.
“We are on the cusp of a huge victory for every single woman who has been told over the past 16 months that they didn’t deserve VAWA protections. I applaud those moderate Republicans in the House who are ready to put politics aside and help us get this over the finish line. I know that the broad coalition of women and advocates who I’ve worked with over the course of this long effort have their fingers crossed and will be watching closely.”
Continue reading at: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/27/house-republicans-surrender-prepare-to-pass-strengthened-violence-against-women-act/
