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House GOP Shames America by Endangering Women
It’s not just the Sandy bill. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and John Boehner (R-OH) also killed legislation that would help protect 30 million American women’s lives.
Yes, Joe Biden’s Violence Against Women Act was just killed for the first time since 1994, thanks to the House Republicans. We are truly going backward with each moment these knuckle draggers occupy the House.
Each congress before this one managed to keep the VAWA alive with no problem, because it was basic: It provided funding for the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, money to state and local government to fight domestic violence, helped support women fleeing an abuser, and so much more.
But just as with the Sandy bill, House Republicans found much to object to in the reauthorization of the VAWA. For example, it failed to adequately shame victims and also failed to shield perpetrators.
Don’t you think we should be working together as a country to make sure that violent perpetrators have more access to their victims? Yes? This is what the House Republicans think. Must give abuser more access, control and power. Especially if that victim is an “illegal immigrant”. I mean, hey, you come to the Land of the Free and get attacked — tough luck!
In Republicanese, if we let “them” get murdered or brutally attacked, they’ll self-deport, so it’s a win. Yes, let’s show everyone why they do NOT want to live here. We treat our women like crap — come on, in!
This is the same Party that tried to rename a rape victim a “rape accuser”. Perhaps they have binders full of “accusers” they need to “shut down”. They seem to spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about granting the perp access to the victim and shutting down as many protections for women as they can.
Republicans also object to same sex couples and Native American women being protected. All those women (and men, actually) can just suck it, as far as the House GOP sees it. They have their principles, you see. Sniff. Family values.
House Republicans proposed their own version, after abandoning the Senate’s bipartisan version. The House version was so bad, it’s fair to call it the Pro Violence Against Women Act. It’s so bad President Obama vowed to veto the House version. Sounding familiar now? Yes, just another piece of standard legislation that any other congress would manage to pass, but oh, no. Not this one. This House is busy hunting for ways they can oppress women, not empower them. That is, when they’re not busy wasting millions of taxpayer dollars putting ObamaCare up for another Show Vote. These are Very Busy and Important Men.
As for the alleged “protected class” of women, well, they too must be punished for having the bad sense to be born females in the first place. If you people really didn’t want to be killed, surely your body would “shut that down”.
No, Republicans didn’t really say that… Yet. But what else can they be thinking? Women die every day from intimate partner assault in this country. It’s a crisis. It’s an emergency. Wanting to mitigate the violent murder of American women should be the most basic thing, especially from a party that claims to stand for freedom.
Here’s the reality: Republicans would rather let women die than compromise on their “principles” (aka; have to extend the freedoms they enjoy to others).
Chris Christie is doing a masterful job shaming House Republicans for their failure to respond to the needs of the people: Lives lost. Destruction. Hunger. Lost homes. Seems a given.
But we can take those same end results and apply them to women, specifically women who have been the victim of violence. Yes, while the House Republicans were telling Sandy victims to go screw themselves, they also left women facing life-threatening situations hanging yet again.
The VAWA has been collecting tea dust since April when the Senate sent the bipartisan legislation to the House, where it joined the growing pile of legislation ignored by the Republican-led House. Maybe the boys are using all of these bills for toilet paper, but then, that would presume they were doing something useful and I think we all know better by now.
What House Republicans have done to Sandy victims and women in peril is outrageously offensive, but there’s no end to it. Eric Cantor will surely step up to the cameras he loves to much to smugly lecture us on how they can’t just go passing legislation willy-nilly, especially not when they are so offended by parts of it. Not to worry, Boehner equated the war on women to being as fake as a “war on caterpillars”. There, problem solved.
Compromise on the backs of women’s lives? YES. Compromise in order to get a bill passed? Not unless they’re backed into a corner and told by people who matter (read: $$$) to shut the Hell up and do their jobs.
Women are dying every day as a result of intimate partner abuse. DYING. Those who manage to get away today need shelter. Their children need shelter.
Instead, too many will be turned away because there is no funding. Three women a day die as a result of intimate partner violence, and that was with the VAWA in place. It’s reasonable to expect violence against women to increase by 60% (back to the rates pre-VAWA) if the act is left unfunded over the long-term.
A likely 60% increase in violence against women? A 5% increase is unacceptable, especially when it comes as the result of a petulant refusal to sign legislation that every other congress has signed.
Republicans should be so proud.
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25 Responses to House GOP Shames America by Endangering Women
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stumptownhero
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 5:37 pm
Like a cornered animal the Baggers know they are losing and are striking out whenever possible. I wonder how long before the L$M calls them out for their callous behavior.
2014 is looking to be a better year for the Dems than I would have every hoped!
Johnee
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Well I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone here.
While I agree wholeheartedly with the content and protecting the victims of DV; frankly, the name of the bill sucks.
Gay men and unassertive, easily dominated men, are also far too often the victims of DV ( often under reported). Even though they are included in the body of the bill, the title should reflect them as well; not as an addenda or afterthought.
My cousin in L.A. is frequently wailed on by a particularly domineering and vile woman (sometimes out in public). He is to cowed and ashamed to do anything about it.
The bill should have passed though, no question.
labman57
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 6:50 pm
The current agenda of most House Republicans has nothing whatsoever to do with balancing the budget/reducing the deficit and everything to do with implementing their political ideology. The GOP sees an opportunity to damage or eliminate programs and organizations that conflict with their quest for social devolution — hence their self-serving attacks on labor unions, the EPA, FEMA, Planned Parenthood and access to contraception, public television and radio, public education, medical care for the poor, health care reform, … domestic violence programs, etc.
The tea party contingent of the GOP is even worse, taking a scorched earth approach to the federal budget.
If House Republicans truly were concerned about the federal deficit and were taking an even-handed approach, they would have whole-heartedly approved the budget deal which rescinds the disproportionately huge tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy — tax cuts that have added significant strain on the national budget since implemented during the GW Bush administration.
In addition, Congress should strip the fossil fuel industries and other corporate entities of their tax breaks and subsidized funding, cut back further on unnecessary defense contractor programs, and eliminate tax-exempt status of all politically-active religious organizations.
Kathleen
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Who do they think they are? Are they still living under a rock? Women are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness also…as even men are. Women are not entitled to abuse, disgrace, humiliation and death at the hands of an abuser. Get with the times GOP and get off you dead end. Abuse affects all of us,not just the victim but the victims family and children too. This should be paramount and should absolutely allow for all women of all ages, races and creeds to have protection. Outrageous!!!!!! Spend some of the BIG $ from the GOP for victims of domestic violence NOW.
Reynardine
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 7:46 pm
I just finished reading an article by a woman who grew up in Delhi. She described the extraordinary dampening effect the constant threat of sexual violence has on any girl growing up in that city, a threat so oppressive that even a move to Bombay/Mumbai seemed liberating. But it is a threat that is absent nowhere in “civilization”. I used to attend graduate classes at the Washington Square campus of New York University- excellent classes that were given at night. That year, so many men were off to war that an unusual number of women students were admitted: good students, bright students…who had, frequently, to make their way from the Slavic division of the New York Public Library to the campus as darkness fell, and then, three or four hours later…home. We gritted our teeth and made the journey. Meanwhile, as our academic careers progressed, our style of clothing changed: looser, darker, drabber, more unisex. Hair was frequently cut or tucked up under unisex hoods and caps. If the threatening words and gestures we encountered in the street were less frequently carried out than in Delhi, the threat itself was no less present. To survive and function, each of us had to learn to preserve prudence while suppressing fear. It took a constant toll which each of us, with equal constance, denied.
Men derived, willy nilly, a privilege in proportion to our oppression: the privilege of walking the streets with impunity, under no threat. It was a privilege at once taken for granted and yet heady. It is one that the kind of men in the Republican House have no intention of abandoning. Every misogynistic act of violence somewhere reinforces it, and they’re not going to give that up willingly.
PaulQ82
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 10:33 pm
The real shame is that a discriminatory law will be even suggested by any party,I am with the democratic party but I am ashamed that they felt entitled to vilify the Constitution and openly and shamelessly discriminate against heterosexual men,while creating an abusive industry to support the male hating cult,i.e feminism.
shame,shame,shame on you Sarah for misrepresenting the bill,and looking the other side while heterosexual men are singled out for veil discrimination.
Reynardine
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 11:21 pm
Excuse me, chief, but do you know how much you sound like a stupid, privileged fuck?
Wayne
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Good,it’s about time the parasites in family court lose funding. Along with greedy women and lawyers have gutted this country and once again it will be MEN that rebuild it. Your welcome ladies…lol.
Reynardine
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 11:23 pm
Only a matter of time till the MRA’s showed up. Go home, little boy, and play with yourself. At least that way, you won’t have daughters.
Johnee
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 12:43 am
(Laugh!) Now, now Rey. I actually know a liberal Democrat that identifies as being part of the Mens Rights Movement ( he’s in my artist’s co-op), and he’s a pretty good fellow.
However, he primarily concerns himself with LEGIT issues that disproportionately affect men and boys not the “it’s all women’s fault and they’re out to get us” misogynistic garbage.
robyn ryan
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Please don’t bother.
We’ll do it ourselves this time.
Don’t think we could do any worse, and without the need to posture and threaten and display aggression, I’m confident we’ll do better.
Johnee
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 5:59 pm
Robyn who’s “we”?
I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. I hope you mean people (both men and women) that have common goals that want to work together in building a better country.
Humans as a species are flawed and we need each other to make this work. One gender isn’t going to do a “better” job of it than the other.
deborah
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 10:42 pm
boehner and the rest of his rich holy roller buddies need to be thrown out of washington-ever since he became speaker of the house, the war on women has escalated-and the only reason they support sarah palin is that she doesn’t have a thought in her head that is her own-get the republican male chauvanists out of washington once and for all!!!
Walt
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 7:40 am
Are you really claiming here that crimes will not be investigated now if they area against women? You’ve made a ridiculous argument and I don’t think you all are being accurate here. Crimes were investigated before this law and will be after its demise.
If that’s *not* what you claim, why not rewrite the article?
Reynardine
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Walt, please learn to read, write, and cipher. Without funding, rape kits are not processed and prosecutions drop. Without funding, shelters for DV victims and their families close, counseling services are shuttered, and many more victims stay with their abusers until they or their children are killed. Without funding, police units devoted to prosecuting such crimes are disbanded and fewer such crimes are even reported. Without funding for prosecutors of such crimes, prosecutors, already overburdened, are not going to be receptive to victims coming in to an already unmanageable caseload. I could go on, but it’s already been said. The point is that when a state of virtual impunity obtains, there is a very large chance of an incident like Delhi. Perhaps you hate people with twats. Well, that’s half your ancestry, and likely half your descendants, if you leave any.
robyn ryan
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Not mention that everyone, Jesus included, came here through a woman.
C.
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 4:39 pm
Are you aware of how many rape kits sit on evidence shelves and are NOT processed? A lot!!!
C.
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 5:11 pm
In this case something was done on a bipartisan basis in the Senate, thanks to 2 dems and 2 repubs…..BUT, did the House pass it?!!
abcnews.go.com/blogs/poli...
“What we’ve discovered is over the years less and less of the money is actually being used for the purpose for which it was intended,” Cornyn said. “Now about 40-percent, roughly, of the funds are actually used to test rape kits.”
While DNA evidence is collected with most every report of a rape the number of kits has overwhelmed police departments across the country, including those in Texas.
The backlog has left an estimated 400,000 rape kits sitting on shelves in evidence lockers.
Lavinia Masters of Dallas was raped at the age of 13 and her rape kit sat on a shelf for more than two decades.”
“The bill was introduced in the House this afternoon. The cosponsors of the bill all reiterated that they hope the legislation will be passed before the end of the year.
Asked how soon the House could move on the legislation, an aide to Majority Leader Eric Cantor said he was unsure.
There are only six days of legislative business left on the House schedule, but more days could be added as Congress works towards a solution on the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
labman57
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Republican legislators have eagerly demonstrated their support for the health and well-being of women … by greatly reducing affordable access to breast cancer screenings and other preventative health care resources, … by defining rape and any ensuing pregnancy as an “act of God”, … by defunding programs dealing with domestic violence against women, … and by requiring women to “spread them” and provide a “womb with a view” for Uncle Sam.
alexandreina
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Actually, it was Reince Rreibus who made the infamously stupid “war on caterpillars” comment. Hard to forget a name as ridiculous as the “man” who bears it.
alexandreina
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 2:33 pm
Reince Preibus! ACK! Damn typo! LOL
1voice1vote
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Republicans obstructing the Violence Against Women Act is more of the same Congressional dysfunction:
“There is only one group to blame: the House majority and their Speaker, John Boehner.” – Gov. Chris Christie
djchefron
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 4:21 pm
Shorter Eric Cantor: “The Rights of White Men to Sexually Assault Women of Color Shall Not Be Abridged!”
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog....
RED
Jan. 3rd, 2013 at 7:33 pm
“Many blame the House GOP for suddenly blocking legislation that the Senate passed in April, they fail to note that the House passed its own version of the bill in May. Among the points of contention between the bills were expanded protections for green card holders, which some feared could be abused by immigrants to obtain visas. The Senate version would also expand the jurisdiction of Native American courts, allowing tribal courts to prosecute non-Native Americans.”
Shiva (Moderator)
Jan. 5th, 2013 at 11:54 am
And while the 3 fingers point back, the NRA and the conservatives approve of the killing
The conservatives have the chance to stop the gun houses along the Mexican borders to stop selling thousands of guns across the border, yet refuse to becuase Wayne may get really angry
No, the liberals are not the ones demanding people have guns