Earlier today, the Republican-controlled House passed the Senate version of the unconstitutional Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  The Senate bill expands “coverage” to illegal aliens, men, homosexuals, transgendered individuals and prisoners.  It  also expands the law’s reach to give tribal Indian authorities jurisdiction over non-Indians accused of abusing Indian women.

The final bill passed with the support of 87 Republicans.  Before voting on this bill, the House considered a substitute amendment that removed some of the new anomalies.  It was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and 60 Republicans.  It is important to note that about half of the GOP noes were opposing the bill precisely because it did not contain the new social engineering provisions.  So even if all the conservatives had supported the House version, there were enough liberal Republicans to block it.  Moreover, even had the GOP version passed the House, the conferees would have inserted the extra provisions in conference anyway.

We’d like to thank the following members who understood that the entire premise of the bill is flawed, superfluous, and an unconstitutional federal power grab.  The only thing the federal government can do to protect women is to pass a universal right to carry bill.  Everything else is just big government demagoguery.  There is no reason a GOP-controlled House should have brought this bill before the body, much less the Senate passed version.  If they are concerned about the political optics, they should have just ignored it and changed the subject to…let’s say gas and food prices.  Now that is a novel idea.  Giving the Democrats two full days to bludgeon you with gender warfare during debate time is evidently more politically prudent than repealing the ethanol mandate or some other useful legislation.

What is the purpose of a GOP-controlled House anyway?

The following 27 members voted no on both bills:

 Cross-posted from ConservativeVotingRecords.com