On the recordMarch 28, 2012
I want to thank the gentlelady from New York for the consistent leadership she has given to this important legislation since it was passed. It took us a number of years to get it passed in the first place, and it's never been off her radar screen. I especially want to thank my good friend from Wisconsin, who has come forward in a very compelling way to ask that we vote ``no'' on the previous question so that we can consider the Violence Against Women Act, which may well expire, making it--I fear--a real target for the Appropriations Committee because the law will not have been reauthorized. Mr. Speaker, I visited a safe house last week in my district because I wanted to hear why a woman would make the decision to stay at home with an abuser rather than leave. I'm not sure I understood in my heart why she would assume the risk rather than leave. I'm glad I went. There were eight women there, different ages. Some had children. For the first time, when I heard the stories of these women, I understood in the most poignant and practical way what a ``hotline'' actually means, what a ``rape crisis center'' means. After that experience, the notion that when this legislation expires, the Appropriations Committee would have before it unauthorized appropriations, which become a target in and of itself, was just too much to bear. Yet the reauthorization bill has gone nowhere here. At least in the other body, the bill has been passed out of committee.…
