Violence Against Women Act To Lapse--Again

Source: Roll Call

By Katherine Tully-McManus, 19 mins. ago. The Violence Against Women Act will lapse for the second time in 25 years. Authorization for the law’s programs expire when the partial government shutdown begins just after midnight Friday. The landmark domestic violence law was set to expire Sept. 30, but was extended through Dec. 7 under the first stopgap spending bill and extended again until Dec. 21 in a second short-term bill.

The law authorizes funding for social service agencies that aid victims affected by sexual violence, including rape crisis centers, shelters and legal-assistance programs. Reauthorizations over the years have included expanded provisions focused on reporting mechanisms for sexual violence on college campuses and extending protections for the LGBT community.

Most VAWA programs are administered by the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. Congress cleared fiscal 2019 funding for HHS in September, which means that funding for some VAWA programs administered by HHS may continue, even as the authorizations expire.

The fiscal Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill, which funds DOJ, is one of the seven measures caught up in the shutdown standoff. House Democrats pointed to the VAWA expiration as an argument against the government shutdown on Twitter. Debate over the shutdown has been primarily focused on the fight over funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border. -MORE...


Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/violence-against-women-act-to-lapse-%e2%80%94-again/ar-BBRhN6Q?ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

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- Anita Hill testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 14, 1991. The Violence Against Women Act came together in the aftermath of the hearings, in which Hill alleged she faced sexual harassment by then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.