On the recordMay 16, 2012
I thank the gentleman for his courtesy. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this bill which is grossly inadequate in renewing vital protections for domestic violence victims. For the first time, we have a VAWA authorization that actually makes women less safe by taking away protections from previously covered groups like Native Americans living on reservations. My Republican colleague will argue that this bill protects Native women by giving them access to Federal courts, but in many cases the nearest Federal court is over 300 miles away. Do we really expect a woman who has just been abused to get in a car and drive 300 miles for protection? And even then there is no guarantee that a Federal prosecutor will do anything. Every community in the Nation, except for constitutionally recognized tribal governments, has the authority to protect its residents. The only logical solution is to return local control to tribal governments to stop domestic violence before it escalates. Instead of voting on partisan H.R. 4970, we should be considering the Senate bill, S. 1925, which included protection for Indian women. {time} 1540
