Barbara Boxer: “before Senator Leahy leaves the floor, I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart. What he has shown is that he can…”

“before Senator Leahy leaves the floor, I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart. What he has shown is that he can team up in a bipartisan way to help the women of this country avoid needless, senseless, dangerous violence. I thank the Senator, and I stand here to support his efforts. The Leahy-Crapo bill is the bill we need to pass. Why? Because it is the bill that includes everyone. We do not want to leave out 30 million people. We do not want to leave 30 million people out of the Violence Against Women Act. That is what the House of Representatives does because they leave out immigrant people, they leave out the gay and lesbian community, they leave out students and Native Americans. When you look at those women and those groups, you find out, indeed, they have a very high percentage of violence in their communities-- violence against women that leaves women in deep trouble and threatens their lives. So only the Leahy-Crapo bill--only the Senate bill--which passed here with such a great number of votes can include everyone. So if you take, for example, Cristina, in my home State of California, whose boss threatened her with deportation unless she complied with his demands for sex, she is not covered in the House bill. This is a woman who is essentially being held hostage by her boss. He is using his power over her, and she is not covered by the House bill.…”