Funding bill leaves out Violence Against Women Act extension
Funding bill leaves out Violence Against Women Act extension
Washington (CNN)The latest funding bill passed by Congress on Thursday night does not include an extension to reauthorize the decades-old Violence Against Women Act, despite its expiration on Friday, as Democrats plan to push for an overhaul of the legislation in near future.
In the hours leading up to the official filing of the final spending bill early Thursday morning, Democrats and Republicans were at odds over whether to roll a clean extension of the law into the spending bill, with Democrats lobbying to keep it out.
Democrats objected to including the clean extension, according to two Democratic aides, saying that they would have more leverage to negotiate a broader re-authorization of VAWA outside the confines of the spending deal.The law was originally enacted in 1994 and provides grants and support to various groups that work on issues relating to sexual assault, domestic violence and prevention, among other things.
On Wednesday, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy voiced the GOP's desire to extend the legislation, saying at a news conference: "We do not want to have VAWA ... expire. We want to extend it out, that will become a question down, hopefully Speaker Pelosi would not want to have VAWA expire, which would be on Friday. That's why we would like to add that and make sure it's in." But Democrats ultimately got their wish -- and now plan to revamp the law.
"We expect a full re-authorization bill will be introduced next month," a Democratic aide said in an email on Thursday.
And although it will not be extended, the Democratic aide said that there will be "no impact."
Democrats said there will be no tangible effect since the grants through the law are funded in the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations measure that is included in the package.
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https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/politics/violence-against-women-act-spending-bill/index.html