Senate OKs anti-violence against women act

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- By a robust bipartisan majority, the Senate voted Tuesday to renew the Violence Against Women Act with new assurances that gays and lesbians, immigrants and Native American women will have equal access to the act's anti-domestic violence programs.

The Senate's 78-22 vote reauthorizes a two-decade-old law that has shielded millions of women from abuse and helped reduce national rates of domestic violence. In the House, Republican leaders are working to come up with their own version.

"Over 160 million women across the country are watching and waiting to see if the House will act on this bill and finally provide them the protections from violence they deserve," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

The act expired in 2011, putting efforts to improve its many federal programs on hold. Last year both the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate passed renewal bills, but they were unable to reach a compromise.

This year, House Republicans, sensitive to their lackluster showing among women voters in the November election, have vowed to move expeditiously on the issue.

The White House, which supports the Senate bill, says that among the positive changes created by VAWA are a decline in intimate partner violence by 67 percent between 1993 and 2010 and an increase in victims reporting domestic and sexual violence to police, resulting in more arrests.

The act provides grants to state and local authorities for legal assistance, transitional housing, law enforcement training, stalker databases and domestic violence hotlines. The Senate bill extends the act for five years and provides $659 million for VAWA programs, down 17 percent from the last reauthorization in 2005.