Thread by @jbendery

It's been more than 2 years since Congress let the Violence Against Women Act's authorization expire.

It's one of President Joe Biden’s signature issues ― and it’s still not clear how or if the Senate will get it done. huffpost.com/entry/violence…

Congress used to reauthorize VAWA with massive, bipartisan votes.

But Senate Republicans let it expire in 2019 because they didn't like the bill everyone else supported. Why? It expanded protections to LGBTQ and Native victims of violence + included a gun safety provision.

Senate Republicans were in such disarray over reauthorizing VAWA in 2019 that they couldn’t even agree with each other on what they wanted in their own bill. huffpost.com/entry/violence…

So, even though the House passed a bipartisan bill and Senate Dems supported it, VAWA's reauthorization expired.

This is the longest it's ever gone without being reauthorized.

It doesn’t mean the VAWA itself has expired.

It means uncertainty for its life-saving grant programs + no ability to update the law with protections that domestic violence advocates say are badly needed.

Updates like... helping Native women escape horrific levels of violence.

2021 is feeling a lot like 2019 on VAWA.

The House just passed a bill that is essentially the same as what it passed in 2019.

Senate Republicans are working on their own bill.

Senate Dems need 60 votes to pass something. So, 10 Republicans. Last time, they had 0.

Sen. Joni Ernst is taking the lead on the GOP bill again.

She told me a couple weeks ago that its text is almost done and that the bill is “very similar” to the 2019 bill.

That... does not bode well for this round of VAWA.

Some changes are underway though: Sen. Lisa Murkowski is working on the tribal portion of the GOP's VAWA bill. She could bridge Dems and GOP on this one.

I covered the VAWA reauth fight in 2012-2013 and, yet again, a sticking point for GOPers is the idea that tribes should have jurisdiction over non-Native men who abuse Native women on tribal land.

That nearly derailed the bill last time, and here we are again. Why?

Despite lots of GOP resistance, the 2013 VAWA reauthorization, for the first time, gave tribes jurisdiction over non-Native domestic abusers of Native women on tribal land.

That was huge and badly needed. Native women face horrific levels of domestic violence.

The House already passed its VAWA reauthorization bill last month. It was fast and bipartisan.

It would expand tribes' jurisdiction over non-Native men who commit violent offenses against Native women on tribal land, like sexual violence, sex trafficking and stalking.

That's a big deal. And also badly needed.

Anyway, Senate Republicans opposed doing this in 2019 and it's part of the reason why their bill went nowhere and why VAWA's authorization is still expired.

At the moment, I don't see how Senate Dems and GOPers agree on a VAWA reauth bill if the GOP won't accept new protections for Native women + LGBTQ people who need help.

VAWA is Biden's baby. Would not be surprised if he personally gets involved to get this done. He did in 2013.

This isn't in the news much yet, but I'll be watching this in the coming weeks. It matters a lot to Biden.

I think Murkowski will be key. “I’m working with everybody. Democrats, Republicans, independents, advocates. I want to get VAWA reauthorized.” huffpost.com/entry/violence…

One notable difference in the 2021 House VAWA bill: it now includes language making revenge porn -- when someone distributes sexually explicit images of someone without consent -- a federal crime.

@KatieHill4CA personally lobbied her former colleagues to add this to the bill.

Hill called key committee chairs -- Judiciary chair Nadler + Rules chair McGovern -- to urge them to address revenge porn in VAWA.

“I learned firsthand the devastating effects of this,” said Hill. “We knew that VAWA was the best chance of this happening... And it belongs in it.”