[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

  (Mr. HUFFMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my grave concerns 
over the Republican substitute to the Senate-passed Violence Against 
Women Act. The Senate passed this bill with overwhelming bipartisan 
support, including a majority of Senate Republicans. But apparently, 
leadership in the House has decided that this law should protect only 
some women.
  The substitute that we're being asked to vote on excludes LGBT 
victims. It weakens protections for women on college campuses, Native 
American women, and immigrants. As a father of a young daughter and a 
husband, I cannot begin to understand why we would gut commonsense 
protections for women or why we would pick and choose the type of women 
that we want to protect from violence.
  A few minutes ago, we swore allegiance to this flag and to a Republic 
that stands for liberty and justice for all, not for some. In fact, 
Americans have long fought for equality for women and protecting all 
women from violence. The Violence Against Women Act has been an 
important part of that arc of our history. It's not something that 
should be politicized or used for political games. Let's vote against 
this substitute.

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