[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 7014-7015]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         STATEMENT ON H.R. 4970

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM R. KEATING

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 16, 2012

  Mr. KEATING. Mr. Speaker, although I support the Services, Training, 
Officers, Prosecutors (STOP) grant program, I regretfully had to vote 
no on final passage of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization 
(VAWA). Even with the changes in the manager's amendment, the bill that 
came to the floor today remains a partisan, extremist bill that 
provides far fewer protections for domestic violence victims than the 
strong, bipartisan Senate-passed bill.
  This bill would put victims of domestic violence in greater danger by 
rolling back key

[[Page 7015]]

protections in current law and by excluding entire populations of 
women, particularly in the LGBT and Native American communities, from 
these valuable victim protections. Even though VAWA is a critical grant 
program, I could not support the House GOP version, as such I voted 
``nay.''

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