Violence Against Women Act Expires
By ending its session without taking up the issue, the House of Representatives allowed the landmark 1994 Violence Against Women Act to expire yesterday. Today, New Jersey Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt is responding.
“Just when it seemed the Republican Congress could sink no lower in putting politics over people's lives, they managed to dig themselves even deeper by killing the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act,” says Lampitt, who chairs the Assembly Women and Children Committee. “As a woman, as a mom, and as a legislator who has fought to curb domestic violence, I find the Republican Congress's failure to renew critical protections for women to be inexcusable and disgusting, in addition to sending the wrong message to women and victims of domestic violence.”
Lampitt is calling on New Jersey's Republican House members to publicly affirm their support for reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and to urge Speaker John Boehner and House leadership to take up the issue without delay.
“Domestic violence strikes women of all ages, races, regions, religions, and political affiliations,” explains Lampitt. “Protecting women from domestic violence should not be a partisan issue, and in fact, that is why the re-authorization bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support.”