House GOP Blocks Reauthorization of VAWA

As you may recall, in 2012, House Republicans turned the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which has previously been a virtually automatic piece of Congressional business, into a big fucking fight because of new provisions for icky things like expanded protections for same-sex couples, Native Americans, and undocumented immigrants.

Welp, the Congressional session closed out with no movement on the bill, despite the legislation's architect and champion, Vice President Joe Biden, having pleaded with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Eprehensible) to save the legislation, so now, "for the first time since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act is no more."

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Democratic point person on VAWA, said in a statement:

"The House Republican leadership's failure to take up and pass the Senate's bipartisan and inclusive VAWA bill is inexcusable. This is a bill that passed with 68 votes in the Senate and that extends the bill's protections to 30 million more women. But this seems to be how House Republican leadership operates. No matter how broad the bipartisan support, no matter who gets hurt in the process, the politics of the right wing of their party always comes first."

Proponents of the law hope to revive the law in the new Congress, starting from scratch, but in the meantime, there will be far fewer resources available for state and local governments to combat domestic violence.

Congratulations, Republicans. That's quite a party you've got there.

For the record: Prosecuting abusive spouses and providing resources to abused spouses so they can safely extricate themselves from potentially life-threatening situations protects the sanctity of marriage and the sanctity of life, if you believe in the sacred.

Of course, it's (mostly) women's lives, and, as we all know, the Republican Party considers those a negligible item.