Clinton calls for renewal of domestic violence law
by Anne bearan
Associated Press Writer
SANTA FE, N.M. — Family vio
lence is still a national tragedy that
ruins lives and futures, President
Clinton said Monday as he pressed
Congress to renew a law intended
to combat domestic abuse.
“Domestic violence is not just a
family problem that neighbors can
ignore, not just a women’s problem
that men can turn away from,”
Clinton said. “It is America’s prob
lem.”
The landmark 1994 Violence
Against Women Act is due to ex
pire Sept. 30. Legislation to reau
thorize the law for another six years
has broad bipartisan support, but it
is held up in the last-minute crush
of bills as Congress tries to meet an
Oct. 6 adjournment date.
“It is wrong to delay this one
more hour,” Clinton told an audi
ence that included many women
who were victims of family abuse.
“Schedule the vote.”
The president said the bill is be
ing “used as a political football in
Washington,” as both parties jock
ey for advantage in the final days of
the session. Republicans hold ma
jorities in both houses, and general
ly control which bills come up
when.
John Feehery, a spokesman for
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R
111., said the measure has been un
der consideration in congressional
committees, but that a vote was ex
pected. “It possibly might be sched
uled for a vote for later this week.”
In the Senate, Republican leaders
floated the idea Monday of attach
ing the renewal of the Violence
Against Women Act to a bill that
would overhaul the nation’s bank
ruptcy laws. The twinned propos
als would then be appended to one
of the 11 appropriations bills that
Congress still must enact to keep
the government in operation, under
a last-ditch GOP plan circulated
Monday.
Joan Entmacher, vice president of
the liberal National Women’s Law
Center, described the idea as extor
tion. Women’s groups fiercely sup
port renewal of the act, but many of
the same groups oppose the bank
ruptcy legislation because they
contend it disproportionately
harms women and children.
If the law is extended, it will be
without a key provision allowing
rape victims to sue their attackers
in federal court. The Supreme
Court said it is up to states, not Con
gress, to choose whether to protect
women in that way.
Congressional Democrats tried
unsuccessfully to reinstate the pro
vision this year.
As left by the Supreme Court, the
law now essentially provides a fed
eral dispensary for a variety of
grants and programs aimed at pre
venting family violence and help
ing women flee it.
So far, the federal government
has spent $1.6 billion under the
law, including $173 million being
distributed this year. Clinton was
announcing New Mexico’s last
batch of $1.7 million on Monday,
money the White House said will
go to partly to strengthen domestic
violence enforcement and prosecu
tion efforts on American Indian
lands.
Later in the day, Clinton spoke at
a reception that raised at least
$150,000 for the New Mexico Coor
dinated Campaign in Santa Fe.
New Mexico offers Democrat Al
Gore and Republican George Bush
only five of the 270 electoral votes
needed to win the presidency, yet
historically, the majority of voters
in the state have picked the winner.
Except for 1976 when New Mexico
supported Republican Gerald Ford,
the state has backed the victorious
candidate since it became a state in
1912.
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