IN ANOTHER decided triumph for anti-family feminism, the Republican-controlled House reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act today, expanding the draconian domestic violence bill to cover homosexuals and prosecution of non-native men on Indian reservations. This marks the third time since December that House Speaker John Boehner has moved a bill off the floor without majority support from his party.
VAWA expired last year and underwent serious and vocal opposition. But the “war against women” threats prevailed. Though the majority of House Republicans voted against the bill, eighty-eight members joined 199 Democrats to approve it.
The bill authorizes $660 million a year in funding for battered women’s shelters, domestic violence programs and victims’ advocates. Here is Phyllis Schlafly on the bill, first enacted in 1994:
In its 17 years of operation, [VAWA] has done little or no good for real victims of domestic violence, while its funds have been used to fill feminist coffers and to lobby for feminist objectives and laws. Although every spending bill should be subject to rigorous auditing procedures in order to curb waste and fraud, VAWA has somehow ducked accountability for the nearly a billion dollars a year it doles out to radical feminist organizations. (more…)