[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 118 (Thursday, September 28, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9457-S9458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THE NEED TO PASS THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to once again ask 
the majority to immediately bring S. 2787, the Violence Against Women 
Act of 2000, VAWA II, to the floor for a vote.
  Yesterday the President wrote to the Majority Leader urging passage 
of VAWA II this week. This is a top priority not only for the 
Administration but for the Nation. The President wrote: ``The Senate 
should not delay, and I urge you to pass a freestanding version of the 
Biden-Hatch VAWA reauthorization bill this week. The women and families 
whose lives have been scarred by domestic violence deserve nothing less 
than immediate action by the Congress.'' The President is right.
  This Tuesday the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the 
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act by a vote of 415 to 
3. I commend the House for finally acting on this important 
legislation. Many of us have been urging Senate action on legislation 
to reauthorize and improve the Violence Against Women Act for months. 
We have been stymied by the Republican leadership.
  I also would like to thank my friend Senator Joe Biden, for his 
leadership on this issue. He has been a champion for victims of 
domestic violence for many years. He was pivotal in the enactment of 
the Violence Against Women Act almost a decade ago. He has been 
tireless in his efforts this year. It is time for the Senate to take up 
S. 2787, review and accept the consensus substitute and move to final 
passage. It could be done this week--today. Senator Biden has offered 
to proceed on a clean bill within 10 minutes and he is right.
  I regret to have to remind the Senate that the authorization for the 
original Violence Against Women Act, VAWA, expires at the end of this 
week on Saturday, September 30, 2000. This is outrageous. This should 
be consensus legislation, bipartisan legislation. With a straight up or 
down vote I have no doubt that our bill will pass overwhelmingly. 
Playing partisan or political games with this important legislation is 
the wrong thing to do and this is the wrong time to be playing such 
games.
  ``Gotcha'' games have no place in this debate or with this important 
matter. The Violence Against Women Act II is not leverage or fodder but 
important legislation with 71 Senate cosponsors.
  There is and has been no objection on the Democratic side of the 
aisle to passing VAWA II. Unfortunately, there have been efforts by the 
majority party to attach this uncontroversial legislation to the 
``poison pill'' represented by the version of bankruptcy legislation 
currently being advanced by Republicans and to other matters.
  I received today a letter from the Pat Ruess of the NOW Legal Defense 
and Education Fund that emphatically makes the point the VAWA is not 
``cover'' for other legislation that hurts women. She is right. The 
bankruptcy bill as the Republicans have designed it is opposed by the 
National Partnership for Women and Families, the National Women's Law 
Center, the American Association of University Women and dozens of 
women's organization across the country. I hope that the rumors of such 
an effort by the Republican leadership will prove unfounded and that no 
such cynical pairing will be attempted. It is destined to fail and only 
delays and distracts the Senate from what we should be doing--passing 
VAWA II.
  I believe the Senate can and should pass VAWA II as a clean, stand-
alone bill, without further delay. That is what Senator Biden urged 
Tuesday.
  According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, almost one-third of 
women murdered each year are killed by a husband or boyfriend. In 1998, 
women experience about 900,000 violent offenses at the hands of an 
intimate partner. The only good news about this staggering number is 
that it is lower than that of previous years when the number of violent 
offenses was well past 1 million. I have no doubt this drop in the 
numbers of victims of domestic violence is due to the success of the 
programs of the Violence Against Women Act. We should be working to 
lower that number even further by reauthorizing and expanding the 
programs of VAWA. The country has come too far in fighting this battle 
against domestic violence to risk losing it because the Senate does not 
pass VAWA II or someone wanting to score clever, political points for 
short term partisan gain.
  There is no reason to make this a political battle. We must act now.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the President's letter 
and the September 28 letter from the NOW Legal Defense and Education 
Fund and a September 17, 1999 letter from the National Partnership for 
Women & Families, National Women's Law Center and other women's 
advocacy organizations.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                              The White House,

                               Washington, DC, September 27, 2000.
     Hon. Trent Lott,
     Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Leader: I am writing to urge you to bring the 
     reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to 
     the Senate floor this week.
       An estimated 900,000 women suffer violence at the hands of 
     an intimate partner each year, demonstrating the urgent need 
     for this legislation. Since VAWA was enacted, the Department 
     of Justice and Health and Human Services have awarded 
     approximately $1.6 billion in Federal grants to support the 
     work of prosecutors, law enforcement officials, the courts, 
     victim advocates, health care and social service 
     professionals, and intervention and prevention programs in 
     order to combat violence against women. We must reauthorize 
     these critical programs immediately.
       As you know, yesterday, the House overwhelmingly passed 
     VAWA reauthorization by a vote of 415-3. In the Senate, VAWA 
     has similar bipartisan support with over 70 cosponsors. If 
     Congress does not act this week, however, VAWA's 
     authorization will expire on September 30, 2000. The Senate 
     should not delay, and I urge you to pass a freestanding 
     version of the Biden-Hatch VAWA reauthorization bill this 
     week. The women and families whose lives have been scarred by 
     domestic violence deserve nothing less than immediate action 
     by the Congress.
           Sincerely,
     Bill Clinton.
                                  ____

                                                 Now Legal Defense


                                           and Education Fund,

                               Washington, DC, September 28, 2000.
       Dear Senator: The Violence Against Women Act runs out in 
     two days. The Senate must act immediately! Do not let VAWA 
     die--pass S. 2787, the reauthorization of the Violence 
     Against Women Act. The bipartisan VAWA renewal bill, 
     sponsored by Senators Biden and Hatch, has 71 co-sponsors and 
     virtually no opposition. The House passed a similar bill on 
     Tuesday, 415-3. You must demand that this bill comes to the 
     Senate floor today, freestanding and without harmful riders.
       It is unacceptable for the Senate to attach VAWA to or 
     partner it with any bill that the President has threatened to 
     veto. One such bill is the Bankruptcy Reform Act, a bill that 
     threatens women's economic security by:

[[Page S9458]]

       Making it more difficult to file bankruptcy and regain 
     economic stability afterwards.
       Pitting women and children who are trying to collect child 
     support against powerful commercial companies trying to 
     collect credit card and other debts.
       Punishing honest low income bankruptcy filers while 
     providing cover for individuals convicted of violating FACE 
     (clinic violence protections).
       We cannot support a bill that uses VAWA to provide cover 
     for legislation that also hurts women. S. 2787 can be passed 
     under Unanimous Consent today. Please just do it.
           Sincerely,
                                              Patricia Blau Reuss,
     Vice President, Government Relations.
                                  ____

         National Women's Law Center, National Partnership for 
           Women & Families,
                                               September 17, 1999.
     Re: S. 625, The ``Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999''
       Dear Senator: The undersigned women's and children's 
     organizations write to urge you to oppose S. 625, the 
     ``Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999.''
       Hundreds of thousands of women and their children are 
     affected by the bankruptcy system each year as debtors and 
     creditors. Indeed, women are the fastest growing group in 
     bankruptcy. In 1999, over half a million women are expected 
     to file for bankruptcy by themselves--more than men filing by 
     themselves or married couples. About 200,000 of these women 
     filers will be trying to collect child support or alimony. 
     Another 200,000 women owed child support or alimony by men 
     who file for bankruptcy will become bankruptcy creditors.
       S. 625 puts both groups of economically vulnerable women 
     and children at greater risk. By increasing the rights of 
     many creditors, including credit card companies, finance 
     companies, auto lenders and others, the bill would set up a 
     competition for scarce resources between parents and children 
     owed child support and commercial creditors both during and 
     after bankruptcy. And single parents facing financial 
     crises--often caused by divorce, nonpayment of support, loss 
     of a job, uninsured medical expenses, or domestic violence--
     would find it harder to regain their economic stability 
     through the bankruptcy process. The bill would make it harder 
     for these parents to meet the filing requirements; harder, if 
     they got there, to save their homes, cars, and essential 
     household items; and harder to meet their children's needs 
     after bankruptcy because many more debts would survive.
       Contrary to the claims of some, the domestic support 
     provisions included in the bill would not solve these 
     problems. The provisions only relate to the collection of 
     support during bankruptcy from a bankruptcy filer; they do 
     nothing to alleviate the additional hardships the bill would 
     create for the hundreds of thousands of women forced into 
     bankruptcy themselves. And even for women who are owed 
     support by men who file for bankruptcy, the provisions fail 
     to ensure that support payments will come first, ahead of the 
     increased claims of the commercial creditors. Some 
     improvement were made in the domestic support provisions in 
     the Judiciary Committee. However, even the revised provisions 
     fail to solve the problems created by the rest of the bill, 
     which gives many other creditors greater claims--both during 
     and after bankruptcy--than they have under current law. The 
     bill does not ensure that, in this intensified competition 
     for the debtor's limited resources, parents and children owed 
     support will prevail over the sophisticated collection 
     departments of these powerful interests.
       This Bankruptcy Reform Act will reduce the ability of 
     parents to pay their most important debt--their debt to their 
     children. It is for these reasons that we strongly oppose S. 
     625 and urge you to oppose it as well.
           Very truly yours,
       National Women's Law Center.
       National Partnership for Women & Families.
       ACES, Association for Children for Enforcement of Support, 
     Inc.
       American Association of University Women.
       American Medical Women's Association.
       Business and Professional Women/USA.
       Center for Law and Social Policy.
       Center for the Advancement of Public Policy.
       Center for the Child Care Workforce.
       Church Women United.
       Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW).
       Equal Rights Advocates.
       Feminist Majority.
       Hadassah.
       International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring 
     Confederation (``IWIRC'').
       National Association of Commissions for Women (NACW).
       National Black Women's Health Project.
       National Center for Youth Law.
       National Council of Jewish Women.
       National Council of Negro Women.
       National Organization for Women.
       National Women's Conference.
       Northwest Women's Law Center.
       NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.
       Wider Opportunities for Women.
       The Women Activist Fund.
       Women Employed.
       Women Work!
       Women's Institute for Freedom of Press.
       Women's Law Center of Maryland, Inc.
       YWCA of the U.S.A.

                          ____________________