[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 70 (Wednesday, May 16, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H2724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO H.R. 4970--VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 
                      REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2012

  (Mr. HINOJOSA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong 
opposition to H.R. 4970, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization 
Act, which shifts the power into the hands of the abuser and moves away 
from longstanding bipartisanship on this issue.
  In my view, a vote for H.R. 4970 is clearly an attack on the Violence 
Against Women Act, and I am deeply concerned that the manager's 
amendment to H.R. 4970 weakens current law and rolls back protections 
in the VAWA self-petition process, empowering abusers and harming 
battered immigrant spouses.
  The manager's amendment rolls back U visa protections, denying 
protection to immigrant victims of serious crime and stripping police 
and prosecutors of a critical law enforcement tool. The manager's 
amendment fails to include provisions from the bipartisan Senate-passed 
bill to protect Native American women and includes language that may 
lead to further abuse. The manager's amendment fails, again, to include 
provisions of the bipartisan Senate-passed bill to protect LGBT victims 
from discrimination, and it weakens nondiscrimination employment 
protections.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote against H.R. 
4970 and to work together in a bipartisan manner in order to improve 
and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.

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