Washington, DC – Last week, Congresswoman Stefanik and 50 House colleagues introduced the Violence Against Women Extension Act of 2021, which provides a clean extension of funding for Violence Against Women Act programs for the upcoming fiscal year. This legislation would ensure these critical programs can continue to fight domestic violence and sexual abuse, and it would also provide Congress the opportunity to work together to pass a truly bipartisan and noncontroversial long-term reauthorization of VAWA. Instead, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats brought a version of the legislation that is filled with controversial provisions to the House Floor.
Today, Congresswoman Stefanik offered an amendment to their bill. In a statement, she said, “My amendment to the Violence Against Women Act is simple – it provides a clean extension of the important programs funded by this legislation without the new, controversial provisions injected by Speaker Pelosi. Most importantly, it will ensure critical funding to support and protect millions of domestic violence and sexual abuse victims across the country.”
"More than 1 in 3 women in this country have experienced some form of physical violence by their partner – and each year millions of our mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends are victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Tragically, new evidence shows that lockdowns, social isolation, and economic insecurity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a hidden surge in domestic violence and abuse. So now more than ever, we must come together to combat this crisis. And in fact, Congress has a long history of doing so on a bipartisan basis. The enactment of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 and the reauthorizations that followed were non-controversial and overwhelmingly bipartisan. Congress has worked together to establish a coordinated community response to support victims and equip the justice system with the necessary resources to address these heinous crimes. Yet in 2019, House Democrats allowed VAWA’s authorization lapse when they shunned the bipartisan history of VAWA and advanced a bill with filled with controversial provisions – rejecting Republican offers to work in good faith and prioritize the wellbeing of women and children. At the time I led the Violence Against Women Extension Act of 2019 to extend the law and provide certainty for victims, survivors, families, and crisis centers. But House Democrats put scoring political points ahead of the interests of vulnerable women and refused our efforts to prevent VAWA’s programs from going unauthorized. This year, here we are again - Democrats are rushing their controversial bill back to the floor, bypassing committee consideration, and ignoring opportunities to work with Republicans to address the problematic provisions. They have denied new members opportunities to contribute to the bill, including a record number of new Republican women – representatives whose own lives and districts have been deeply affected by these issues. So once again, this House rather than pursuing bipartisanship, is again considering a bill that promotes unproven methods of supporting victims, infringes upon 2nd Amendment rights without adequate due process, and imposes new barriers to prosecuting domestic violence cases. My amendment is simple – it provides a clean extension of Violence Against Women Act programs for the upcoming fiscal year without the controversial provisions injected by Speaker Pelosi. Most importantly – it will ensure funding for critical programs that fight domestic violence and sexual abuse for the American people. A clean extension provides us the opportunity to work together to pass a truly bipartisan, long-term reauthorization of VAWA. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment."
