Congress Renews Violence Against Women Act
The House of Representatives voted 286-138 Thursday and passed an extension to the Violence Against Women Act. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation that protects women, and some men, from domestic abuse and prosecutes those abusers.
The president called the renewal "an important step towards making sure no one in America is forced to live in fear." And he aims to sign the legislation "as soon as it hits [his] desk."
The House Republicans proposed their own version of the act, but it failed to pass.
The Violence Against Women Act was originally passed in 1994 under President Clinton and has been renewed twice before. But when up for renewal in 2011, it lapsed because it was caught up in battles that eventually divided Congress.
The act was passed after House Republican members recognized their need to improve their suffering image among women voters.
The Senate passed the bill two weeks ago, voting 78-22. In the vote, every female senator Democrat and 23 of 45 Republicans in the Senate supported in favor of the renewal.
A Republican presidential candidate has not won the popular female vote since 1984.
The Violence Against Women Act would implement and enact various federal programs including the reauthorizing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. It would also allocate $659 million a year for five years to programs that provide grants for legal assistance, transitional housing, hot lines and law enforcement training. Additionally, it authorizes programs dealing with sexual assault on college campuses, and it adds stalking to the list of crimes.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
