About the violence against women act. And i speak to this body not just as a senator, but i speak to this body as a survivor of rape. And as the survivor of Domestic Violence. For months for months, the senior senator from california and i worked together on a piece of legislation that would reauthorize the violence against women act, a bipartisan effort, an effort that brought the senator and i together in an effort to reauthorize the bill with as much support in this body as possible. Now, we were working together in good faith. To make our way through the issues that affect so many women in abusive situations, partners in abusive situations, Domestic Violence situations where children are involved to find a common path forward to have this bill reauthorized, again with as much possible support in this body, at a time when america views us as so politically divided. What could bring us together . The issue of violence. Directed at women and children and survivors of Sexual Assault. That should bring us together. Months of bipartisan effort. A pressure was be given to immediately introduce the house bill, the housepassed version of violence against women act. We were moving ahead with steady progress in a number of these areas, but, again, political pressure to introduce the housepassed version of the bill. Not one that we could come together with on the floor of this senate. One that even the democrats in their release, in their press gaggle addressing the house version of violence against women act, they said would never make it through the senate. Why on earth would we introduce a piece of legislation that will not make it through this body . Shouldnt we be working together to find a path forward . We should continue to work on that. And i hope sincerely that by the end of this year, we can come together as republicans and democrats and not present a republican version or a democratic version, but produce a version that will pass this body and protect those that are in a very vulnerable state. I have been in that vulnerable state before, and i appreciated the assistance that was given to me by folks that were funded by this piece of legislation. So with that, mr. President , i object. Mrs. Feinstein mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from california has the floor. Mrs. Feinstein i was just going to ask if the senator, senator ernst, would yield for a moment. I know that we had some good discussions and then they broke off. I am very happy to continue to work on this. I felt it was important to enter the house bill because of those three very important provisions that i just went over, which are in essence the three improvements op the bill, if you will. And i have no problem sitting down now and we can discuss it, and if we could find a way that we can agree, i think that would be just fine. But in the interests of time, and because there have been a substantial period of time, i just decided to introduce it. The three issues are tribal sovereignty, the lgbt people, and the gun provisions, and those are the three new house provisions. So i can still senator ernst and i would be very happy to do this, sit down and discuss them, if you would like. Ms. Ernst mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Ms. Ernst i truly do appreciate the senior senator from californias remarks. I truly have enjoyed working on this piece of legislation with you. There were three markers that were laid down within the house version of the bill as outlined previously, but there was no consensus there. It was you either accept these provisions or we dont Work Together. We need to keep finding a way to bring us to consensus on a bill that will move through this body, and i am happy to continue working on legislation with you. I think that by the end of this year, we should find something that will work to reauthorize this very, very important piece of legislation, and i appreciate your leadership on this very much and truly have enjoyed working with you. Mrs. Feinstein mr. President. The presiding officer the gentlewoman from california. Mrs. Feinstein in response to the senator, im very happy to accept the invitation. We can sit down and continue to work on this, but i would i would point out that these three provisions have tremendous support the tribal sovereignty, the protections for the lgbt community, and the spouse protection when the spouse has a weapon. So those are are rather difficult, i think, over here. They were not in the house, but who knows . Maybe we can work something out. Im happy to try. Ms. Ernst mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Ms. Ernst mr. President , the violence against women act turned 25 years old this year, and as many of us are aware, this law provides desperately needed resources to tackle domestic and sexual abuse in our communities. And, folks, it needs to be reauthorized. I wasnt in the senate the last time this bill was passed. That was in 2013. And i wanted to be part of the process of getting the bill done this time around. As a woman, as a survivor, and as someone who volunteered at a womens shelter in college, i understand just how awful violence against women can be in terms of physical and mental wellbeing. In terms of self image. In terms of our families, and in terms of the security of the whole of society. For months, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary committee and i worked to develop a bipartisan proposal that i really thought we could get across the finish line. Because, folks, as that old schoolhouse rock video would say, without passing the house, the senate, and getting a signature from the president , all you have is a bill, just a bill. Not a law. And no survivors are helped by a bill. But here we are today after months of work and mountains of effort that went into working toward a bipartisan bill, and at some point, someone pressed the Big Red Button of partisan politics, and the democrats refused to Work Together any longer, walking away from the Real Progress that we had made. Not only did they walk away from the negotiating table, but they did so by dropping a bill that is going nowhere, as they have acknowledged. The Senate Democrats bill is a nonstarter. It wont pass the senate. It wont get the president s signature. And most importantly, it wont actually help the survivors that need it. These politics are bad. We should be helping survivors, not engaging in the kind of partisan antics that will never produce real results. Weve seen this before. The democrats will say that republican women cant speak for women because we dont agree point by point with their leftist agenda, and these are wornout tactics, my friends. However, despite the feinsteins decision to walk away and put politics ahead of survivors, im leading our effort to continue getting a bill done that focuses on providing the resources and support survivors across the country need. For women and children, in urban and rural areas like mine. My goal has always been to empower survivors, to punish abusers, and to enhance the overall purpose behind this very important law. Thats why this week i plan to put forward a bill that puts survivors first. We have included a number of issues Senate Democrats fail to address. For example and this should be so simple, folks we are holistically addressing fema genital mutilation. We tripled the amount of funding that is available for education and Sexual Assault prevention. We also focused more on enhancing the penalties for abusers. And as a matter of fact, one of the most objectionable and unacceptable items in the Senate Democrat bill is that they allow accused abusers to go outside of the Justice System and negotiate directly with their victim, with their victim, those women, those abused survivors that have already been manipulated and beat down. It allows those abusers to negotiate directly with their victims. That is, of course, as long as the victim consents, as if an abusive relationship ever involved consent. Outside of the Justice System, folks. Outside of the Justice System. Folks, its unimaginable that we would allow or fund such an abusive system or abusive situation and allow abusers to escape justice. I think abusers should face justice, and im not sure why our Senate Democrat colleagues dont agree. Mr. President , coming from a rural area of our country, i made sure we prioritize World Resources in our bill. We are offering increased funding for Housing Assistance so that women and children can be safe from their abusers. When you live in an area like mine, rural montgomery county, red oak, iowa, the nearest shelter is an hour away. You have virtually cut off a woman and her children from any job that she might have had, any family that she might have had. It really truly takes them out of their life. By offering these Housing Resources through voucher programs, our bill enables them to rent an apartment or home in their home community. Imagine what we could do in this body if we worked with a single purpose instead of a dozen different motives. This entire body pulling together with a single purpose. Focused on assisting those survivors. I welcome the support of all my colleagues for my bill, democrats and republicans, and i hope we can all join together in this effort. How many more violent abusers could we put behind bars to keep survivors safe . How many more people would be alive today . I want to thank my colleagues for joining me today to speak on the importance of the violence against women act. And i want to send a message to the countless survivors across this country. We are with you. We hear you. And we are working for you. And with that, mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , id like to begin by thanking our friend and colleague from iowa, senator ernst, for her leadership on the reauthorization and indeed, i think the important should poind be made to strengthen the violence against women act. We dont have to settle for the house bill. We can have a better bill for victims of Domestic Violence. But, unfortunately, like so much important work, we seem to constantly get diverted and distracted and dragged down by the partisanship that seems to dominate in washington,d. C. , these days. For many month our colleague from iowa has been working closely with senator feinstein, the senator from california, to try to figure a way to reauthorize this critical law. In the meantime, though, not on one occasion, but on two occasions we have offered a continuing resolution that would extend the current reauthorization, and our democratic colleagues have shut that down. And so we are in uncharted territory where we dont currently have an authorization for the violence against women act. So i share our colleagues disappointment when our democratic colleagues walked away from the negotiating table and chose to introduce a replica of the houses partisan bill, which, as youve heard, does not have the support to pass in the senate. Let me say one thing that should be abundantly clear, but sometimes i think it gets lost. We all agree, we all agree that more must be done to prevent violence and respond to it. Its fair to say we have different opinions on what those pathways look like, but one thing should not be up for debate. Whether or not we reauthorize the violence against women act, that is something we need to do. But the fact is we we dont havo settle for the house bill. We can do better. Our democratic colleagues took an interesting approach in interviewing a bill that the majority of people in this chamber will not support, and they know that. Sadly, thats part of the point. They know they have a bill that does not enjoy consensus support because theyd rather make the political point and argument that somehow some of us on this side dont believe in supporting victims of Domestic Violence, which is absolutely a falsehood. Its a lie. During a press conference, the senator from hawaii even conceded five times that the house bill is going nowhere, but thats the path our democratic colleagues have chosen rather than work in a bipartisan fashion to build a consensus package that could actually become law, they decided to head down a partisan path led by the house bill which came to us seven months ago. So clearly some of our colleagues here in the senate are not interested in actually making laws. Theyre in it for the headlines, for the politics. So in the face of this ridiculous and unacceptable jockeying, im glad that today senator ernst will introduce a consensus alternative to the bill offered by her colleagues and im proud to be a cosponsor of the legislation. This bill introduced by the senator from iowa will send more funding and more resources to, in the violence against women act than the democrat bill. Its actually better and it will authorize the program for twice as long. It will give the department of justice the stability needed to plan for the future without being jerked around by partisan games. But this bill includes a lot more than just funding. It also addresses a number of horrific crimes that are being committed against women and girls in our country. Sex trafficking, for example, is currently not always recognized as a form of Sexual Assault, and it is. But this bill would make that clear. It would also enhance the maximum criminal penalties for sexual abuse of minors and other vulnerable groups. It will, as you heard, take aim at heinous crimes like mutilation and address crimes in rural areas and on tribal lands. This legislation includes provisions from a number of bipartisan bills that have been introduced in the senate to both improve resources for victims and target specific types of abuse. One example is a bill i introduced with the senator from california, my friend, senator feinstein, called the heals act that would remove some of the hurdles that exist between victims of Domestic Violence and their access to safe housing. Thats in our bill. This provision would also include greater flexibility for transitional housing programs so that survivors can get back on their feet without the fear of losing the roof over their head. This bill includes language introduced by senators murkowski and cortez masto to combat the epidemic of murdered and missing native women and girls. It will allow for better Law Enforcement coordination and provide local and tribal Law Enforcement with more resources to address these crimes. Its critical that we all call attention to these despicable acts of violence and unequivocally reject them without regard to partisanship or party. Another challenge we face is technology outpacing our ability to counter certain types of exploitation, abusive images and videos proliferate online, for example. This is a relatively new challenge, but its real and its omnipresent. This legislation will empower victims of this type of abuse to remove the content from the internet by using copyright takedown authority. It also establishes an Innovation Fund for the office on violence against women to address emerging trends so victims get the support they need as quickly as possible. So if you compare this legislation to the bill passing the house and introduced by our democratic colleagues here, there is no question our investigation does more our version does more to support advisors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. It provides more funding over a longer period of time and it targets despicable crimes that are being committed across the country that arent even covered by the house bill. So let me close and thank our friend from iowa for continuing to fight for victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and for leading the effort to reauthorize the violence against women act. A bill that never should have lapsed despite two attempts to continue it that our democratic colleagues objected to. Im proud to be a cosponsor of this bill and look forward to working with all of our colleagues to advance it. So i hope our colleagues will return to the negotiation table and work with us so we can send a longterm reauthorization of the violence against women act to the president s desk for his signature. The presiding officer the senator from in north dakota. Mr. Hoeven i rise to join my colleagues in calling for the reauthorization of the violence against women act or vawa. It is foundational to addressing Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and supporting survivors in recovery. It expired earlier this year and it is critical that the services and tools offered through the law are reauthorized so we can continue to help and empower survivors. Additionally, it is important that we make it known that crimes of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, dating violence and stalking are not tolerated. Senator ernst will be introducing this legislation which i am cosponsoring to reauthorize the violence against women act. This bill includes key tribal provisions such as expanding tribal criminal jurisdiction, upholding tribal sovereignty while amending the 2013 vawa and providing increased funding for Indian Tribes to address violence committed against indians on their lands. A department of justice report found that more than four in five american indian, alaskaan, native american women experience violence in their lifetime and native women are significantly likely to experience violence by a partner. Under the vawa bill Indian Tribes will be able to train more lawyers and court judges further strengthening the tribal criminal Justice System. Theyll have academies to increase access to