Go ahead and add victims of sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence to the list of casualties from the third government shutdown of 2018, as the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has expired. VAWA, the landmark legislation enacted in 1994, has found short-term reprieves twice this year, with extensions granted on September 30 and December 7, but not so with the shutdown that kicked in at midnight on Saturday. VAWA programs are funded through the Justice Department, or, at least, they were.
It’s just the latest disappointment served up by an administration led by a pussy-grabbing womanizer who added a second accused sexual predator to the Supreme Court.
Even as Congress congratulates itself for passing legislation that makes it somewhat easier for victims of sexual harassment in the workplace to advocate for themselves, and no longer places the bill for payoffs to victims on the backs of taxpayers, extending VAWA beyond the short-term was a bridge too far, both earlier this month and in September … and earlier this summer.
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Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee introduced the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2018 in July, but the GOP-held House refused to bring it to the Floor for a vote. Soon-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to nudge House Republicans to enact more than a few-week fix, to no avail.
As Members of Congress, it is our responsibility to ensure that every woman, in every part of our society, can live free from violence. Yet, the continued refusal over many years of House Republicans to extend VAWA’s critical protections to include vulnerable communities, particularly Native American, immigrant and LGBTQ communities, represents a blatant dereliction of that duty.
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This common sense reauthorization bill has 163 cosponsors and has the support of the nonpartisan groups representing communities around the country, and deserves strong bipartisan support in the Congress. It is shocking and shameful that under your leadership, the GOP has refused to bring this reauthorization bill to the Floor for a vote.
Republicans’ decision to include only a short-term VAWA reauthorization in the must-pass minibus spending bill is nothing short of an abdication of our responsibilities to women in our country.
Despite the no-brainer, bipartisan support the Act enjoyed this summer (with an ultimately disappointing lack of a long-term solution), not a single Republican co-sponsored the December extension.
Not. A. Single. One.
So what does this mean for those seeking the benefits that VAWA provides? The Boston Globe offered this explanation, just before the early December deadline:
While a failure to meet that looming deadline does not mean the funding would disappear instantly, the money would dry up eventually, hindering efforts to strengthen existing programs and create new policies designed to help survivors and eradicate domestic violence.
Ah, no big deal, right? WRONG.
VAWA “has brought a tremendous amount of attention to the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault,” said Maureen Gallagher, policy director at Jane Doe Inc., a statewide anti-sexual and domestic violence organization. “The funding that does come to states helps support the work of community-based rape crisis centers and domestic violence programs. If that were to go away, it would be really devastating.”
And here it is, gone away. It’s worth noting that yet another short-term extension for VAWA, ending in early February, was included in both the House’s continuing resolution and the Senate’s spending bill, which passed their respective bodies this week.
But as Donald Trump tells the nation to prepare for a “very long” shutdown, the prospect of that money drying up eventually becomes that much more likely.