Hagedorn Votes Against Politicized VAWA, Supports Clean Extension

Press Release

Congressman Jim Hagedorn (MN-01) today voted against H.R. 1620 -- the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA), which would redefine terms in VAWA to shift the focus away from women's needs, threaten the safety of women in federal prisons, expand sexual orientation and gender identity language, and continue to provide funding opportunities for abortion providers. Instead, Hagedorn supported an amendment offered by Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21) that provided a clean extension of the existing VAWA program. The amendment failed by a vote of 177-249.

Rep. Hagedorn issued the following statement after the vote:

"Sadly, Democrats have once again decided to put forward a bill aimed at satisfying the whims of their radical base as opposed to working with Republicans to develop a bipartisan, commonsense solution. They even rejected a clean extension of the existing program, which has enjoyed universal support for many years.

"This initiative will actually place some women at risk for domestic violence, as the Democrats' proposal would require women's shelters to admit biological males who identify as women. Such shelters are designed to help women escape from abusers; however, this legislation would allow potential male predators the opportunity to prey upon abused women seeking safety.

"The bill also requires that female-only prisons admit biological males who identify as women. This will place females inside prisons, whether inmate or employee, vulnerable to violence. I'm disappointed that Democrats have decided to politicize the reauthorization of such an important bill and place their radical identity politics agenda ahead of the needs of women. But today's actions mimic how Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have wielded power and misused their majority thus far."

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