WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — The House of Representatives reauthorized the Violence against Women Act which gives legal protection to women who have experienced domestic or sexual violence.
The vote was 242-172 with 29 Republicans supporting the act. It faces a difficult path for passage in the Senate.
The Violence Against Women Act was one of President Joe Biden’s signature legislative achievements when he was a senator.
The White House announced its support earlier Wednesday for reauthorizing the act, which aims to reduce domestic and sexual violence and improve the response to it through a variety of grant programs.
“VAWA reauthorization is more urgent now than ever, especially when the pandemic and economic crisis have only further increased the risks of abuse and the barriers to safety for women in the United States,” the White House said.
Biden introduced the original Violence Against Women Act in June 1990 when serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A subsequent version was eventually included in a sweeping crime bill that President Bill Clinton would sign into law four years later. Congress has reauthorized VAWA three times since.
The bill created the Office on Violence Against Women within the Justice Department, which has awarded more than $9 billion in grants to state and local governments, nonprofits and universities over the years. The grants fund crisis intervention programs, transitional housing and legal assistance to victims, among other programs. Supporters said the reauthorization would also boost spending for training law enforcement and the courts.
“This bill leaves no victim behind,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.
The legislation also would prohibit persons previously convicted of misdemeanor stalking from possessing firearms, a provision that generated opposition from the National Rifle Association and resulted in most Republicans voting against the measure in the last Congress.
House Democrats voted to reauthorize the act in 2019, but the measure failed in the Senate due to the gun control provisions.