Political Quotes

“today marks 18 years to the day since President Clinton signed the Violence Against Women Act into law. Since that day, this law has protected countless women across the country, as seen most directly by the fact that annual rates of domestic violence have dropped by more than 60 percent. Today also marks a far less celebratory day in the history of this critical bill. That is because today is also the 139th day of delay by the House of Representatives since the Senate passed an inclusive, bipartisan VAWA bill by a vote of 68 to 31. It marks 139 days since House Republicans decided not to follow suit and to instead pass a version of our legislation that stripped vital protections included in our Senate bill--provisions that protect some of the most at-risk women in our country. It has now been 139 days since 15 Senate Republicans stood to join with us to pass this legislation because they knew the history of this bill. They knew that every time the Violence Against Women Act has been reauthorized, it has consistently included bipartisan provisions to expand protections to women who were not previously covered. They understand that domestic violence protections for all women shouldn't be a Democratic or a Republican issue. I hope Speaker Boehner and our colleagues in the House hear this: We are not backing down and we will keep fighting because 139 days is inexcusable. In fact, 1 day is inexcusable.…”