Prepared Floor Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley
The Motion to Proceed to the Violence Against Women Act
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Mr. President, there has long been bipartisan support for the Violence Against Women Act. Too many women are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence. Federal support for services to these women, and sometimes men, has been beneficial to our country.
I support many of the provisions in the majority bill. There are consolidations of grants, cyberstalking, rural programs, assistance for individuals with disabilities, older victims, housing protections, and numerous others that I wholeheartedly support.
There is overwhelming bipartisan support for 98 percent of what is contained in S. 47.
The process on VAWA in the 112th Congress was very disappointing. Previously, VAWA was reauthorized unanimously. When new provisions were added, they were consensus items. The law was then reauthorized by consensus.
Something similar could have happened again. But it didn’t. New provisions were forced into the bill. Some were controversial. Some raised serious constitutional concerns. But those on the other side insisted on these provisions without any change and refused to compromise.
It appeared that the debate was more about blame and politics than it was about providing help to women in need.
Last Congress, both the Republican leader and myself offered that the Senate consent to striking a provision that violated the Constitution’s Origination Clause and then proceeding to conference. The majority spurned those efforts on both occasions. Yet today, S. 47 has removed the provision that raised the blue slip problem with the House.
It does this only a few months after the majority refused to drop it and proceed to conference. The willingness of the majority today to eliminate that unconstitutional provision demonstrates that we could have had a bill last year. That is a terrible disappointment.
It is not true that unless S. 47 is passed exactly as is, various groups will be excluded from protections under the law.
Current law protects all victims.
Vice President Biden wrote the current law. Every member of the Senate who was a member of this body when the Violence Against Women Act last was reauthorized voted for that bill. Neither Vice President Biden nor any other senator passed a discriminatory bill then.
It is not the case that unless the controversial provisions are accepted exactly as the majority insists without any compromise whatsoever that any groups will be excluded.
Mr. President, the key stumbling block to enacting a bill at this time is the provision concerning Indian tribal courts.
That provision raises serious constitutional questions concerning both the sovereignty of tribal courts and the constitutional rights of defendants who would be tried in those courts. We should focus on providing needed services to Native American women. S. 47 makes political statements and expounds on Native American sovereignty.
It raises such significant constitutional problems that its passage might actually not accomplish anything at all for Native American women, while failing to protect the constitutional rights of other American citizens.
Even the Congressional Research Service has raised constitutional questions with the tribal provisions in this bill.
I hope that whatever the Senate might do today, that negotiations on these questions will continue.
I’m confident that if we can reach agreement on these questions, compromises on the other few remaining issues can also be secured, allowing a bill to pass with overwhelming bipartisan support.
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