Call Your Congressman: The House Takes Up VAWA
Rachel West February 28, 2013By Rachel L. West, MSW, LMSW
The Political Social Worker
Update: The House passed the Senate version by 286-138, re-authorizing VAWA until 2018. The bill now goes to President Obama to be signed into law.
A Call To Action
On Wednesday the United States House of Representatives brought a bill to re-authorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2013 to the floor.
VAWA expired in the spring of 2011 because the House was not able to pass a bill that matched the one passed by the Senate. The Senate bill included new provisions that would extend services and protections to LGBT, immigrant women, and Native American women living on reservations. The house GOP objected to these provisions and authored a watered down version of VAWA. They have done the same thing with the 2013 bill.
US Representatives will now have the option of voting for either the House substitute bill (the watered down version) or the Senate bill (that extends protections).
Please take the time to contact your Representative and ask them to vote YES on the Senate version (S.47) and NO on the House substitute.
If you are not sure how to reach out to your congressmen, you can find their contact information here. It will take only a couple of minutes to call. Furthermore, please share this information on Facebook, Twitter, Tumlbr and any other social media platform you use.
Further Reading:
Senate to Consider Violence Against Women Act
photo credit: bitzcelt via photopin cc
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