Violence Against Women Act

This week, I started reading about a new act called the Violence Against Women Act. This act would "authorize $659 million over 5 years for VAWA programs and include new protections for victims of domestic violence" according to this Huffington Post article. This act was supposed to be a bipartisan bill, and the Senate just passed it 78 to 22. Not surprisingly, senators who voted against the act were all Republican males. The question that I had right after I read this article was why would anyone vote against this bill, that would help countless people?

I found some sort of answer when reading a quote from a House Republican, Eric Cantor. He said, "We blocked the Violence Against Women Act because the Senate forced it on us without our consent. I'm sure women understand." It shocked me that any elected official could ever say something so horrible and just plain dumb. Hopefully, other Republicans in the House don't share this same view, and pass this crucial bill.