Rep. Yoho Opposes Partisan Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ted S. Yoho (R-FL) opposed the flawed bill H.R. 1585 – Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. Congressman Yoho gave the following statement:

“While I strongly oppose any form of violence against individuals, especially women, I felt that this reauthorization does not strengthen or improve VAWA. The bill presented before the House today contains major partisan expansions of current law. It was referred to seven different committees, and it was only marked-up in one of the seven committees.  A reauthorization this important should be reviewed, amended, and improved upon by all committees of jurisdiction. 

“Here are some of the issues I have with the Democrat version of VAWA; the bill will:

• Rollback provisions related to preventing and prosecuting child sex trafficking from current law
• It will allow biological males, who identify as women, to be housed in women’s prisons
• Continues an Obama-era policy that allows biological males to access and use female-only domestic violence shelters, potentially jeopardizing the safety and privacy of women and girls in shelters
• Ties VAWA grant funding to a policy that discourages the use of bench warrants, eliminating a powerful tool that prosecutors use to protect victims of domestic violence
• Fails to provide a religious hiring exemption or protections for faith-based organizations

“Preventing violence and protecting victims should not be a partisan issue. The reauthorization of VAWA should have been an exercise in bi-partisanship to craft a bill that would be signed into law. The bill brought before us today falls short of those two goals.”