Standing with survivors of domestic abuse and sex trafficking, President Obama on Thursday signed into law a renewal and expansion of the 19-year-old Violence Against Woman Act, a long-sought victory made possible last month when House Republicans quit blocking the measure’s passage.
“We’ve made incredible progress since 1994, but we cannot let up â€" not when domestic violence still kills three women a day,†Mr. Obama said, “not when one in five women will be a victim of rape in their lifetime, not when one in three women is abused by a partner.â€
The president signed the measure not in the more typical ceremony at the White House but in an auditorium at the nearby Interior Department to accommodate a crowd of women’s advocates, abuse survivors and Democratic and Republican members of Congress who had pressed for the law. Also with him was Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who as a senator in the 1990s sponsored the original legislation - “one of the causes of his career,†s Mr. Obama said in tribute.
The new law expands the federal protections and resources of the original act and ensures that those provisions also cover victims who previously fell through the legal cracks: those who are gay or transgender, Native American women who are victimized on tribal lands by non-Indian men, and undocumented immigrants.
Introducing Mr. Biden was Diane Millich, a member of Colorado’s Southern Ute tribe who told her own story of repeated abuse and a murder attempt by her non-Native American husband; because he acted on tribal land, he could not be arrested or prosecuted by either tribal or federal authorities. She now directs Our Sister’s Keeper, an organization she founded in 2007 for Native American women who are abused.
After the law expired in 2011, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed an expanded version with bipartisan support, while House Republicans passed a narrow bill without the changes for same-sex couples, immigr! ants and tribal populations. The Republicans especially objected to expanding the authority of tribal courts, calling that a violation of the constitutional rights of the non-Native Americans charged with crimes.
The issue died in December when Congress adjourned. But when a new Congress opened this year, the Senate quickly passed a nearly identical expanded version. This time House Republican leaders, under mounting political pressure, unexpectedly allowed it to come to a vote and pass with mostly Democratic support.
The new law builds on the original one, which, as Mr. Obama noted, created a national hot line for victims, a network of shelters, protection orders that carry across state lines, and expanded housing assistance for victims who flee their homes. New protections allow undocumented immigrants to seek help without fear of deportation.
“Because of the people on this stage and in this room, every time we reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, we improved it,†Mr. Biden sad. “Every single time, we’ve improved it. And we did this again.â€
The vice president, who is heading Mr. Obama’s effort for gun safety legislation that began after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., used the occasion to also promote the need for such action, given the impact of gun violence on women.
“We’ve all focused on the tragic gun violence that has been in the news lately, but I want to point something out to you,†Mr. Biden said. “From 2009 to 2012, 40 percent of the mass shootings in America â€" other than the celebrated ones you’ve seen â€" 40 percent where there’s four or more people who have been shot, the target has been a former intimate partner or a close family member.â€
