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The Violence Against Women Act will expire on Friday after it wasn’t included in the deal to keep government open. Once again, a reauthorization of the domestic violence legislation is being held up because Democrats want to expand its protections and Republicans don’t.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pointing a finger at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, because House Democrats resisted yet another stopgap extension that again failed to address the expansion they’d offered last summer. Democrats are pushing to protect women from being evicted from their homes because of their abuser’s actions, to bar stalkers and abusers from having guns, and to add protections for transgender people. Republicans are especially opposed to keeping guns out of the hands of stalkers.
A “senior Democratic aide” told Roll Call that there would be “zero impact” to the expiration—presumably in the short term, and assuming a stand-alone bill gets passed soon. Funding reportedly won’t be affected until March, though the uncertainty of not knowing if it will be renewed is a serious problem for domestic violence organizations.
Sign and send the petition to your members of Congress: Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act immediately.