Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Passes House, Moves To Senate

The Hill: House Passes Bill To Renew Violence Against Women Act 
The House passed legislation on Wednesday to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a law originally authored by President Biden that lapsed in 2019. Lawmakers voted largely along party lines 244-172 to approve the measure, with only 29 Republicans joining all Democrats in support. The legislation, which was reintroduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), would provide grants to state and local governments for programs addressing domestic abuse, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. (Marcos and Brufke, 3/17)

Roll Call: House Votes To Reauthorize, Expand Violence Against Women Act
First passed in 1994, VAWA enshrines legal protections for victims of domestic and sexual violence. The original bill was championed by then-Sen. Joe Biden, and was reauthorized and updated in 2000, 2005 and 2013. The House bill would expand victim services and reauthorize for five years grant programs for the criminal justice response to domestic and sexual violence. It also includes provisions that would expand housing options for survivors, and allow tribal jurisdiction over non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence on tribal lands. (Macagnone and Tully-McManus, 3/17)

ABC News: Daniel Dae Kim, Members Of Congress To Testify On Discrimination And Violence Against Asian Americans
Prominent Asian American lawmakers, scholars and advocates, including actor and producer Daniel Dae Kim, will testify Thursday on the rise in hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The hearing follows a string of hate crimes against Asian Americans, as well as three shootings at Atlanta-area spas on Tuesday in which eight people were killed. Six of the victims were Asian women. (Robinson, 3/18)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Washington Post: A Quarter Of House Members Have Not Received The Coronavirus Vaccine 
Three months after vaccinations were made available to all members of Congress, about 1 in 4 members of the House have not received the shots to inoculate themselves against the deadly coronavirus, disregarding the advice of their own physician and missing an opportunity to promote public acceptance of the drugs. Democrats have rejected the notion from Republicans that a 75 percent vaccination rate is a sufficient level to reopen the House of Representatives, which has operated since last March under more restrictive rules, and urged GOP leaders to better encourage their rank-and-file to get the shots. (Sotomayor and Kane, 3/17)

Politico: The Capitol’s New Covid Divide: Getting Back To Normal
House GOP leaders are running trips to the border. Regular fundraising dinners are back at the Capitol Hill Club and the Capital Grille. And the House GOP Conference is hosting its annual retreat in Florida next month. After 12 long months in a mostly deserted Capitol, a sense of normalcy is returning much more quickly in GOP offices than Democratic ones as lawmakers and staffers embrace the post-Covid vaccine life — or choose to flout health guidance altogether. All the while, the coronavirus remains active and less than 15 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against it. (Ferris and Zanona, 3/17)

In updates on alleged election fraud —

The Washington Post: USPS: ‘No Evidence’ In Mail Ballot Fraud Case Cited By Republicans 
U.S. Postal Service investigators found no evidence to support a Pennsylvania postal worker’s claim that his supervisors had tampered with mail-in ballots, according to an inspector general’s report — allegations cited by top Republicans to press baseless claims of fraud in the presidential election. Richard Hopkins, a mail carrier in Erie, alleged in November that he overheard the local postmaster discussing plans to backdate ballots received after the Nov. 3 vote and pass them off to election officials as legitimate. Working with Project Veritas, a nonprofit entity that seeks to expose what it says is bias in the mainstream news media, Hopkins publicly released a sworn affidavit recounting those allegations. (Bogage and Boburg, 3/17)