Senate Democrats Press House for Broader Domestic Violence Bill

House Republicans are expected to bring a new version of the Violence Against Women Act to the House floor sometime before the end of the year. But Democrats warned on Tuesday that if the bill passed in the House, it would not stand a chance in the Senate.

Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the highest-ranking woman in the Senate, said at a news conference that the House's bill to reauthorize the 1994 law would be “an absolute nonstarter” because the legislation is not expected to have additional protections for gays, immigrants, Native Americans and students that were included in a Senate-passed version.

Ms. Murray and the remaining 11 Democratic women in the Senate sent a letter Tuesday to Republican women in the House requesting their help in getting the House to pass the Senate's expanded version of the domestic violence law, which passed in April with the support of 15 Republicans. Only six Democrats voted for House Republicans' version of the bill, which passed in May but did not include the additional protections written in the Senate legislation.

Appealing as “mothers, daughters, grandmothers and women,” the senators wrote, “Saving the lives of women is and should be above politics, and every one of us without regard to party should cast a vote for the safety of all women.”

The letter follows another one sent last week to House Speaker John A. Boehner and Representative Eric Cantor, the majority leader, prodding Republicans to “move quickly” on reauthorizing the law, which will expire at the end of the year. That letter was signed by 120 lawmakers, including 10 House Republicans.

Before now, Democrats had used Republicans' reluctance to support the expanded bill to help frame what they called the G.O.P.'s “war on women.” But with the 112th Congress drawing to a close, Democrats need Republican support to get the reauthorization over the finish line.

Previous reauthorizations of the violence act in 2000 and 2005 sailed through Congress with lopsided bipartisan support. But the Senate bill faces opposition in the House from conservatives, who object to three new provisions. One would subject non-Indian suspects of domestic violence to prosecution before tribal courts for crimes allegedly committed on reservations. Another would expand the number of temporary visas for illegal immigrant victims of domestic violence. The last would expand Violence Against Women Act protections to gay, bisexual or transgender victims of domestic abuse.

Conservatives argue that the Senate version is too broad, costs too much, usurps power from state and local authorities and lacks accountability measures.

“All victims of violence, including women, deserve adequate support and robust defense,” Sarah Torre, a research assistant at the Heritage Foundation, wrote on the research group's blog. Using an acronym for the violence act, she added, “But good intentions alone cannot fix the substantive problems with the VAWA reauthorization and will not bring the most effective, efficient protection to vulnerable women.”