[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. 
        Hirono, Ms. Harris, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Cantwell, 
        Mrs. Shaheen, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Warren, Ms. 
        Duckworth, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Smith, Ms. Sinema, 
        Ms. Rosen, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Brown, Mr. Udall, Mr. Wyden, Mr. 
        Durbin, Mr. Reed, Mr. Carper, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Cardin, Mr. 
        Sanders, Mr. Casey, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Tester, Mr. Warner, Mr. 
        Merkley, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Coons, Mr. Blumenthal, 
        Mr. Schatz, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. King, Mr. Kaine, Mr. 
        Markey, Mr. Booker, Mr. Peters, Mr. Van Hollen, and Mr. Jones):
  S. 2843. A bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 
1994, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today, along with every other Senate 
Democrat, I am proud to introduce the Violence Against Women 
Reauthorization Act of 2019.
  This bill passed the House by a vote of 163-158, with 33 Republicans 
supporting it.
  It was written by the people on the front lines helping victims. It 
is not a Democratic bill or a Republican bill, it is a bill crafted by 
and for survivors who know exactly what's need in the real world. In 
other words, it is the survivors' bill. As I stated before, any 
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act must do two things.
  First, it must preserve the advancements made when it was last 
reauthorized in 2013. And second, it must include meaningful 
improvements to the law.
  The meaningful legal improvements in this bill are particularly 
important, and I would like to highlight three. First, this bill 
preserves the anti-discrimination protections that were made in 2013. 
These protections are particularly important to the LGBT community. 
According to the Center for Disease Control, along with 35 percent of 
heterosexual women, 44 percent of lesbian women, and 61 percent of 
bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an 
intimate partner.
  Similarly, the 2015 U.S. transgender survey found that 47 percent of 
transgender people have been sexually assaulted. Simply put, these 
protections are important and we should not only be preserving them, we 
should be doing more to strengthen them. This bill also makes 
meaningful improvements to the law to address domestic violence in 
Indian country. For example, it expands jurisdiction over non-Indians 
for crimes against children, elders, and law enforcement.
  A 2016 Justice Department report explained that ``more than four in 
five American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence 
in their lifetime.''
  The report also found that 56 percent have experienced sexual 
violence, 56 percent have experienced violence at the hands of an 
intimate partner, and 9 percent have been stalked. For me, these 
numbers are even more upsetting because California has the largest 
Tribal population in the United States. We must continue to respect 
Tribal sovereignty and ensure that we are doing the most to protect the 
most vulnerable among us, particularly children. Finally, this bill 
also keeps guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
  Guns are the most likely way for domestic violence to take a woman's 
life. Women in the United States are eleven times more likely to be 
murdered by a firearm than in other high-income countries. The presence 
of guns in domestic violence situations increases the chances that a 
woman will be murdered by 500 percent. This bill makes modest, but 
necessary, improvements to the law to keep guns out of the hands of 
domestic abusers.
  For example, the bill amends current law so that people convicted of 
stalking cannot possess firearms.
  Yet, the National Rifle Association opposes it. 33 Republicans still 
voted for the House bill, and I hope my Republicans colleagues in the 
Senate will do the same. It's the right thing to do. The different 
parts of the Violence Against Women Act are all linked.
  For instance, preserving the non-discrimination advancements made 
when VAWA was reauthorized in 2013 will help protect the LGBT 
community, but keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers will 
help protect LGBT victims as well.
  This bill takes this sort of comprehensive approach by, for example, 
preserving the advances made to non-discrimination protections and 
improving the law in the areas of Tribal protections and gun safety. 
There is no simple way to stop domestic violence, but we have a duty to 
do all that we can.
  I thank the president, and I yield the floor.
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