On Thursday, following a heated debate on the House floor,
lawmakers passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
Republicans had held up the law for more than a year over provisions
designed to protect undocumented immigrants, Native Americans, and members of the LGBT community. In a separate, earlier vote, the House rejected an alternative, stripped-down VAWA pushed by House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, instead embracing the bipartisan version of the bill the Senate passed last week.
The Senate version of the bill, however, was itself a modified version of Democrats' original bill, passed after Democrats acquiesced to Republican objections and removed a section
that would have made more visas available to undocumented victims of
domestic violence who help law enforcement prosecute their abusers. But
the Senate's compromise bill wasn't good enough for the House Republican
leadership, who introduced an alternate version that removed
protections for members of the LGBT community and made it harder for
tribal courts to prosecute non-Indian abusers.
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