Sens. Cornyn and McConnell: Shutting down the Senate to force sex slaves to bear their rapists' children
It should have been fairly straightforward. But then, this is the Republican Party we're talking about. Over the course of the past couple of weeks, a bipartisan Senate bill that was originally expected to be uncontroversial has turned into an embarrassment, with Republican implacability about abortion rights on full display.
S. 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), was expected to pass easily. It made its way out of the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. The legislation would give law enforcement organizations more expansive tools to go after traffickers, in addition to creating a restitution fund supported by fines collected from those convicted of related crimes. Now, it's an open question whether a bill that focuses more on expanding the powers of law enforcement rather than direct assistance to trafficking victims is the right policy, but that debate notwithstanding, it seemed like everyone in Congress agreed that this bill was the best approach. That is, until the Senate Democratic Caucus found out that a version of the Hyde Amendment, which restricts federal funding for abortion, had somehow made its way into the bill.
The presence of this language has effectively killed the bill for now, as Democrats have sufficient numbers to deny the bill cloture as long as it contains that language. Republicans are refusing to strip the language from the bill, even though the House version of the bill doesn't contain the provision and the bill's sponsor has said it has no business being there. Still, Republican leadership is so insistent on the anti-abortion provision that they have banged their heads against the wall with five doomed cloture votes, are lambasting their House colleagues for not including the language in their version of the bill, and are refusing to even consider the nomination of Loretta Lynch for attorney general until the bill passes as is.
More below the fold on this mess.
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