"Some key facts about victims. On average 24 people per minute are victims of rape, domestic violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States. That's just in the United States. Three women are killed by a current or former intimate partner each day in America. Girls and young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence. "

"These statistics are far too real for me. Many of you know that at age 18 I married early in life. It was an abusive marriage. He was a violent alcoholic. Back then, you didn't talk about what happened behind closed doors. You just accepted it. This law was passed to protect those women, those families, and it came at a time when law enforcement needed those tools. So you see, I have experienced it both on a personal level and a law enforcement officer level. I know too well when you respond to that home and you are talking to those victims. I know what they're feeling because I was there, and I know how much this law has helped so many people in our country."

"I want to go over a few of the aspects of this piece of legislation. As Representative Noem says, it will protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. It will streamline and improve services for young victims and college students - which we all know we have seen too many times what happens sometimes in our colleges and universities. It reauthorizes funding at the same levels as the Senate bill for the next five years. It goes beyond the Senate bill by ensuring tax payer resources will help victims, not Washington bureaucrats. It is a bipartisan act, and I hope that people will quit trying to make it a partisan issue. This is something that affects everyone, and we need to stand together and work on getting this reauthorization bill passed for the betterment of our victims and our country."

 The House Republicans' five year reauthorization of the VAWA bill, H.R. 4970, seeks to improve the bill while preserving the initial programs.  The bill includes bipartisan components of the Senate legislation passed last week, yet does not expand the scope of the bill beyond the original intent.  The bill  also establishes mandatory minimum sentences for sexual assault, subjects more grant programs to federal auditors, and spends more money reducing the backlog of untested DNA samples in rape cases.   

16 states require an ID that must include a photo.  In 16 states non-photo forms of ID are acceptable.

Here is what is happening in some of the states.

Pennsylvania passed a photo ID law in March, 2012.

Tennessee - New photo ID law

• ID must require proof of citizenship and residency in order to prove identity for voting - Exemptions include Absentee voters, voters who are residents of a licensed nursing home or assisted living center and vote at the facility, hospitalized voters, voters with a religious objection to being photographed and indigent voters who cannot obtain a photo ID without paying a fee
• Not acceptable ID's are Discount club cards or credit cards with a photo issued by a bank

Tennessee provides free photo ID's for voting only from the Dept. of Safety Driver's cente,r but the person still had to show proof of citizenship to get it.  A voter who shows up to vote without a photo ID votes provisionally and has until two days after the election to present a photo ID at the county election commission office.

In Wisconsin, it has been reported that Judge David Flanagan, who threw down a temporary injunction against the new Voter ID Law, signed a recall petition against Gov. Walker.  Sounds like a conflict of interest.

There is a national effort to take down Voter ID laws.  There are 4 national groups coordinating the effort. 

1. NAACP
2. League of Women Voters
3. ACLU
4. Eric Holder and the US Justice Dept.

 Besides filing lawsuits, these groups are holding meetings claiming that voter ID suppresses the vote of minorities, the poor, students and the elderly.  This movement is starting in Wisconsin but it will quickly spread. There are three lawsuits pending in Wisconsin state courts right now.

The Virginia General Assembly has passed  Voter ID legislation.  The Governor has not signed it yet.  Conservatives are questioning one of the provisions.  If the legislation is signed by the Governor there will probably be law suits filed by minority groups, older citizens etc.

Please pay attention to the status of Voter ID laws in your state. Democrats want these laws repealed. 

Thank you for your work.