[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 70 (Wednesday, May 16, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H2725-H2726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               I STAND WITH VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

  (Ms. WATERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, today I stand with my Democratic colleagues 
and victims of domestic violence across our Nation in strong opposition 
to H.R. 4970, the House Republican alternative to the Violence Against 
Women Reauthorization bill. This bill severely undermines vital 
protections available to victims of violence and places those victims 
in danger of continued abuse.
  Since its enactment in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act, known as 
VAWA, has a long history of uniting lawmakers with the common purpose 
of protecting survivors of domestic violence.
  Each year across the Nation, thousands of women, children, and men 
who fall victim to domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual 
assault, dating violence, and stalking no longer

[[Page H2726]]

have to live in fear because of important victim protections under this 
law.
  This Republican alternative bill threatens to dismantle this progress 
by deliberately placing domestic violence victims from LGBT, immigrant, 
tribal, and other marginalized communities in harm's way.

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