OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 28, 2013
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Women

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Mr. KEATING. Madam Speaker, I was a DA for 12 years. I solicited and actually used these funds.

We talk about issues. As people see issues, I see faces. I see the faces of innocent women who are victims, and I see the faces of the perpetrators, themselves--the rapists, the batterers, the abusers--who sought to isolate these victims, to strip them away from their friends, their families, social service agencies, law enforcement.

I used these funds to create a lifeline for these victims, breaking down walls that exist in terms of people who spoke a different language, had a different culture, had a different nationality. This amendment creates walls, creates these barriers, that make the victims more vulnerable, and it strengthens the hands of the perpetrators.

Please, all of you, join me in voting against this amendment, and then let's all join together with a piece of legislation that does not punish the victim but that puts perpetrators where they belong--behind bars.

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