[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 25 (Friday, February 15, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              REAUTHORIZING THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

  (Mrs. KIRKPATRICK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. KIRKPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, in Arizona's First District, Native 
Americans make up about 25 percent of my constituents. Unfortunately, 
Native American women are two and a half times more likely to be 
assaulted in their lifetime than other women.
  Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act is important to my 
district. That's why I'm very concerned about the impact of 
sequestration cuts on programs supported by the Violence Against Women 
Act. More than $20 million in cuts are at stake.
  What does a $20 million cut mean? It means thousands more victims 
would be denied shelter and legal services. It means thousands fewer 
police officers, prosecutors, judges, and victim advocates would get 
specialized training.
  As a former prosecutor, I know we need to do all we can to keep 
victims safe and hold perpetrators accountable, and that means we need 
to do all we can to stop these sequestration cuts.

                              {time}  1150

  Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I'm honored to represent the Second 
District of California, which spans from the Golden Gate Bridge to the 
Oregon border. Mine is a district with hundreds of miles of pristine 
coastline, with numerous rivers, and coldwater fisheries, with ancient 
forests and redwood trees, with cities located right up against San 
Francisco Bay.
  It's a district where unique climatic factors have combined to create 
some of the world's greatest wine appellations. And we know, in the 
Second District of California, that we cannot wait to address the 
threat of climate change.
  On the State level, I have fought to defend and successfully 
implement California's world-leading greenhouse gas reduction law for 
the past 6 years, but that is not enough. We need leadership here at 
the Federal level.
  If we fail to act, Mr. Speaker, the livelihoods of fishermen, 
crabbers, foresters, farmers and others in my district are going to 
suffer great harm. The cost of Congress continuing to bury its head on 
the issue of climate change is simply too great.
  And so I am proud to be joining other colleagues, with Chairman 
Waxman, in the Safe Climate Caucus, and to take this cause to the 
national level.

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