Debbie Lesko: “And I thank Representative Scanlon for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I am a survivor of domestic…”

“And I thank Representative Scanlon for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I am a survivor of domestic violence. I also serve on the advisory council of a domestic violence shelter in my district, and I am the cochairwoman of the congressional Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence. That is why having a strong Violence Against Women Act, commonly known as VAWA, that works for the American people is so very important to me. Ending violence against women and protecting women and children should not be a partisan issue. However, we find ourselves debating a VAWA reauthorization act that is literally a Christmas tree of progressive, liberal policy objectives rather than an honest approach to reforming and updating such an important law for millions of women and children. VAWA has lapsed, putting millions of women and children at risk, when it didn't need to. I, along with 194 other Republicans, voted to reauthorize VAWA through the end of the fiscal year on February 14, 2019. I sponsored the Protecting Women Act, which would reauthorize VAWA until September 30, 2019. This would have allowed the program to stay in place while we worked in a truly bipartisan fashion to update and reauthorize this critical program. VAWA has historically been a bipartisan bill with little controversy.…”