On Wednesday, the U.S. House voted in favor of reinstating the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which establishes federal support for efforts to protect victims of domestic violence and related crimes. A full 244 members of the House — including 29 Republicans — voted for the legislation, with just 172 against the move. The legislation was previously in place, but it expired during the Trump era, and although the Democrat-led House passed a reinstatement of the legislation, the GOP-led Senate halted it. Now, Democrats are in control of the Senate and enough Republicans might support some form of the legislation to allow for a path forward over the hurdle of the Senate’s filibuster rule.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who helped introduce the legislation to reauthorize the VAWA, commented as follows on Wednesday:
‘Domestic violence has surged in this nation. And we now have a moment in history. This is a robust bill. We ensure that there is an armor of the federal government around these families so they can survive. We cannot let them down. I think the moment is here. I think the passion is here.’
As summarized by CNN, the legislation “would improve and expand aid and services for victims and survivors,” and, among other measures, it “includes provisions to make safe housing more accessible and bolster economic security by ensuring that state unemployment benefits cannot be denied to individuals who leave jobs due to sexual harassment or assault, domestic or dating violence or stalking.” In the Senate, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said that members “are working on a bill again, taking what we worked on in the last Congress and we will likely reintroduce,” adding that the legislation “will be different from the House bill.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), of all people, provided some insight into at least some Republican opposition to the legislation in a rambling Wednesday speech on the House floor, where she complained about efforts to provide support to transgender women who are victims of violence. Greene crudely described transgender women as “men calling themselves women” and claimed that science is on her side in her effort to publicly castigate transgender individuals, but she’s not in touch with facts. In reality, “science” acknowledges that human identity is more complicated than “pink vs. blue,” which is not a difficult to grasp concept.
Biological sex is different from gender identity, but even within the specific context of biological sex, Greene is off the mark. She claimed that chromosomes establish the binary distinction between men and women — but chromosome differences appear among intersex people. Greene just doesn’t appear to know what she’s talking about.
