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There’s no shortage of elements in Congress’ new $1.5 trillion federal spending bill, but of particular interest was the inclusion of a revised version of the Violence Against Women Act. The New York Times reported overnight:
Introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, the measure would expand protections for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, provide more resources and training programs for law enforcement, fund rape crisis centers and broaden access to legal services for survivors, among other things. It would also require the federal government to notify state and local law enforcement authorities when a convicted domestic abuser lies on a background check in an illegal attempt to buy a gun.
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was first written nearly three decades ago by then-Sen. Joe Biden, and for many years, it was seen as a relatively uncontroversial — and bipartisan — policy. When it first passed the House, for example, support was so overwhelming it cleared the chamber on a voice vote. It soon after passed the Senate on a 95-to-4 vote.
Seven years later, the law was reauthorized in the House on a 415-to-3 vote.
The politics of VAWA changed dramatically in the years that followed, as Republican politics moved to the right. Indeed, as regular readers may recall, congressional reapprovals of the Violence Against Women Act have failed in recent years, and the law lapsed altogether in 2019, unable to overcome GOP opposition and Trump administration indifference.
Several months ago, however, negotiators worked out the terms of a renewed legislative package, which is now on track to become law.
“The expiration of VAWA three years ago put many lives in jeopardy,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last night. “It is such good news that it is finally being reauthorized..... Including the long overdue reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in the [omnibus spending bill] assures that it will be enacted once again, helping to protect survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.”
The New York Democrat added, “The Violence Against Women Act is one of the most important laws passed by Congress in the last 30 years, and it will become law again.”
That said, the bill is not quite as ambitious as Democrats hoped. As Roll Call noted, some senators fought to include a provision to close the so-called “boyfriend loophole”: The idea was to prohibit spouses and other romantic partners from owning a gun if convicted of domestic violence.
Republicans would not accept this, and it held up the larger legislation for quite a while. Democrats ultimately agreed to pull the provision, helping clear the way for the rest of the bill.
“In order to get anywhere near 60 votes, that provision became controversial, and we had to measure the remainder of the bill against that provision,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin recently said. The Illinois Democrat added, “It’s a tough choice, and we made the choice we thought was right.”
The full Senate is expected to pass the legislation this week.
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