Anti-Violence Act Expired 9/30; Take Action!

October 1, 2005

September 30 came and went, and Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act before it expired, leaving millions of women without protection until they decide to act. And every day counts.

Urge the Senate to bring VAWA to the floor for a vote immediately

On Friday, Sept. 30, the Senate was set to pass their version of VAWA 2005 (S. 1197) by a voice vote, but one Senator objected to voting and VAWA expired at midnight.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions was insisting on changes in the immigration portion of the bill, before he would waive his objection to holding the vote. Despite advocates' best efforts, the Senate adjourned Friday afternoon without a vote, unwilling to meet Sen. Sessions' demands.

Supporters of VAWA 2005 must continue to talk to and work with their Senators in the days ahead to ensure that a strong Senate bill passes, without weakening amendments such as Sen. Session proposal. Another attempt to vote on the bill could come as early as next week.

Call or email your Senators TODAY and ask them to request that the Senate's Republican leadership schedule the bill for a vote as soon as possible without weakening amendments. Call their state and DC office or send an e-mail:

Email your Senators right now

Background:

On Wednesday evening the House of Representatives passed a weakened version of the Violence Against Women Act of 2005, which had been attached in July to the Department of Justice (DoJ) Reauthorization bill. The DoJ bill, with its VAWA additions, was passed by a 415 to 4 margin and is still awaiting Senate action and a conference committee in order for some version of VAWA reauthorization to be signed by the President.

On Wednesday, the Republican leadership, after huddling earlier in the afternoon to elect a replacement for indicted Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), returned to the floor of the House and presented the body with a version of VAWA that perfunctorily continued valuable funding and program support for the landmark 1994 legislation but dropped important provisions dealing with immigrants and women of color. These hard-won improvements had been in the bill just 24 hours earlier but were stripped by the bill's chief sponsor, James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, in his role as Chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, in her role as House Minority Leader, pinpointed the shortcomings of the final bill: "Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner offered an amendment that eliminated carefully crafted provisions of the bipartisan bill that recognized that racial and ethnic minorities face unique challenges in reporting and getting help for domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and stalking. With this change, domestic violence prevention and treatment services specifically targeting women of color and immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault will continue to be shortchanged."

A bi-partisan effort was made to defeat the stripped-down offering, but lost 191 to 225 despite many last minute calls from the advocacy community. The greatest tragedy was that the real VAWA 2005, H.R. 3171, the truly effective one, which is sponsored by Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and 131 cosponsors, never got to see the light of day.

Start the month of October — Domestic Violence Awareness Month — with a call or e-mail to your Senators. We need to have VAWA 2005 passed by the Senate without weakening amendments, and a strong version sent to the President for signing before this month is over.

TAKE ACTION NOW