[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 16 (Monday, February 4, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S465-S466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN REAUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, the measure we have approved today to 
move forward, the Violence Against Women Act, so far as it defines us, 
states our values and articulates the vision we see of our Nation as 
caring for people who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. 
I am proud of my colleagues for approving this measure today to go 
forward by an overwhelming bipartisan vote, 85 to 8.
  I hope this day will be followed by final passage here and then in 
the House of Representatives, avoiding the fate that befell it during 
the last session, when I similarly supported this measure to 
reauthorize and strengthen a bill that has served us well for 18 years. 
It served us well in addressing a problem that is as horrific and 
heinous as any that afflicts our society, domestic violence and sexual 
assault, shapes futures and transforms lives for the worse, unless they 
are followed by the service and law enforcement that VAWA provides. 
VAWA is about the organizations that provide those services and need 
the support in Connecticut and around the country, organizations in 
Connecticut that provide services to 54,000 victims of domestic 
violence and sexual assault every year. In our State alone, $4 million 
provides those critical services to men and women and children so they 
can survive and even thrive after domestic assault. We have made great 
strides on this problem, but there is great work still to be done. We 
cannot be complacent or overconfident. We cannot be self-satisfied. We 
must press ahead with VAWA, and that is why today's passage is so 
important--at least the passage of the motion to proceed.

  Groups and organizations in Connecticut and across the nation report 
to me about critical staff shortages, resources they need to respond to 
the hundreds of thousands of women every year who face these problems, 
and the protection they provide to children as well as women who are 
victims of this crime.
  I have been very privileged to join with Interval House in an effort 
called Men Against Domestic Violence. Men make a difference. They are 
potential role models, and we have tried to provide those role models 
to go into schools and provide education--a group of men who are 
educators, police, and other kinds of leaders in their communities, in 
business. We helped to start this effort through Interval House, our 
major domestic shelter in the State. This is only a small example of 
how these efforts can have a ripple effect through VAWA.
  We need to not only renew our commitment to end domestic violence but 
also to update and strengthen and expand the Violence Against Women 
Act. I am pleased to join my colleague Senator Portman in offering an 
amendment that strengthens services for children and youth victims of 
sex trafficking. Yes, sex trafficking and human trafficking continue to 
exist in this Nation. It is sometimes invisible, unknown, one of the 
most heinous crimes imaginable--modern-day slavery, unspeakable 
indenture of children. We need to do more to ensure that children in 
our communities who are victims of sex trafficking have access to the 
lifesaving services that are available to other youth victims of 
domestic violence or sexual assault.
  We can make sure agencies and organizations that provide these 
services access grant funding available for this purpose. Again, this 
goal ought to be bipartisan, and it is with Senator Portman and myself 
on this amendment. I hope my colleagues will support it.
  Vulnerable communities ought to receive the same kind of protection 
through VAWA even though they are now overlooked by existing law, and 
those protections should be expanded. We have an obligation to ensure 
that all victims of domestic violence, regardless of their sexual 
orientation or gender identification, are covered by this law. So this 
legislation contains protection for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 
transgender Americans. The LGBT community ought to know it is covered 
in the same way as every other part of our population, even though they 
face discrimination that prevents them from accessing those victim 
services now.
  In fact, a recent survey found that 45 percent of LGBT victims were 
turned away when they sought help from a violence center. That is 
simply unacceptable. So this legislation will make sure they have 
access to these services and also make great improvements in the law 
enforcement tools available to Native American communities.
  Our Nation's tribal communities are literally facing an epidemic of 
domestic violence and sexual assault. Nearly three out of five Native 
American women are assaulted by their spouses or intimate partners, and 
one-third of all Native American women will be raped during their 
lifetime. I know those statistics are hard to grasp. They seem 
incredible. Three out of five Native American women are assaulted by 
their spouses or intimate partners. One-third of all Native American 
women will be raped during their lifetime.
  I wish they were wrong. I would be happy to be corrected. But those 
numbers tell a searing and unacceptable truth about our Nation. Tribal 
courts currently cannot prosecute domestic violence crimes against 
Native American women that are committed on tribal lands by a non-
Native American. S. 47 closes that loophole so that all Native American 
women will have access to justice.
  Finally, the 2000 reauthorization of VAWA contained landmark 
provisions to protect immigrant victims of domestic violence, and S. 47 
significantly maintains and expands those provisions, sending a strong 
message that immigrant women deserve the full protection of the law, 
the full measure of American justice. It is the reason they have come 
to this country, the reason that millions of immigrants come to this 
country, the reason we are a nation of immigrants and strong because of 
the diversity and the talent they bring to this Nation. We must 
guarantee justice to immigrant women.
  I am still frustrated and disappointed the last Congress did not 
approve VAWA; that this measure was stalled in the House of 
Representatives despite a similarly bipartisan vote in this body to 
approve it. I hope this year the vote in this body will be a prelude to 
bipartisan approaches on this measure and others where basic human 
values are at stake; that there will be no stalling again; that this 
measure will proceed in the House on a similarly bipartisan basis.
  An inclusive bipartisan VAWA should not be postponed. Time is not on 
the side of victims. They need these services. Law enforcement needs 
the support to make sure anyone committing domestic violence or sexual 
assault in this country is held responsible and accountable, and that 
we send that message to women and children throughout this country.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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