Three weeks ago, the U.S. Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act that covered all women. The Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives did not like the Senate’s version because it included Native American women, undocumented women, and LGBT women. So the House said they would create their own version of the VAWA, and then have a vote.
The House did have a vote today Feb. 28, on their Republican version which failed to pass; the final vote on the House version of the VAWA was 166-257, with 60 House Republicans voting against its own bill.
Then a couple of hours later, the House voted on the U.S. Senate’s bill which passed by a vote of 286-138. The U.S. Senate passed their bill on the Violence Against Women Act by a vote of 78-22, on Feb. 12.
The bill authorizes $659 million over five years for VAWA programs. It also expands VAWA to include new protections for LGBT and Native American victims of domestic violence, to give more attention to sexual assault prevention and to help reduce a backlog in processing rape kits. Created in 1994, VAWA has helped to strengthen programs and services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
President Barack Obama praised the House for passing the broader Senate bill and said he'll sign it into law as soon as possible.
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