Republicans Are Blocking the Violence Against Women Act  Here's
why.  | Tue Mar. 20, 2012 2:00 AM GMT violence against women
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which first passed in
1994 and has been reauthorized twice since then, increased
federal penalties for domestic violence and provided funding for
groups and services that aid victims of domestic abuse. The bill
hit the bipartisan sweet spot of being both tough on crime and
oriented toward women's rights. Usually it's reauthorized
without much fanfare. This time around, however, several Senate
Republicans, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), are putting up
a fight. Despite the fact that the bill has several Republican
sponsors, all eight GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee
voted against the bill when the committee considered it last
month.  "While this is a bipartisan effort in this Congress,
it's certainly a tougher slog than most of us expected," says
Lisalyn Jacobs, vice president for government relations at the
women's rights advocacy gro