House Likely to Pass Violence Against Women Reauthorization - East Idaho News
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House Likely to Pass Violence Against Women Reauthorization

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GETTY P 101111 CapitolBuilding?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1361957437566iStockPhoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The House is likely to pass a Senate-approved version of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act on Thursday, sending the bill to President Obama for his signature.

A rule approved in the House Rules Committee Tuesday night allows an up-or-down vote first on a controversial House GOP version of the measure as a substitute amendment.  If that passes, then the GOP version becomes the underlying bill.  If it fails, the House would be left with an up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed bill.

With insufficient support for the GOP bill, the vote on the Senate bill appeared almost certain to pass with bipartisan support.

House Democrats earlier said they were not satisfied with the Republican-crafted version of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, pledging to oppose it if it came up for a vote later this week in the House.

Speaking at the Capitol on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the Republican measure a step down from the Senate bill that passed with bipartisan support earlier this month, saying that “this bill is weaker than the Senate bill, weaker than the current law.”

House Democrats said that the Republican-proposed version up for consideration this week does not provide adequate protection for the sexual crime victims associated with human trafficking or members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and Native American communities.

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