Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, today marks 18 years to the day since President Clinton signed the Violence Against Women Act into law. Since that day, this law has protected countless women across the country, as seen most directly by the fact that annual rates of domestic violence have dropped by more than 60 percent.

Today also marks a far less celebratory day in the history of this critical bill. That is because today is also the 139th day of delay by the House of Representatives since the Senate passed an inclusive, bipartisan VAWA bill by a vote of 68 to 31. It marks 139 days since House Republicans decided not to follow suit and to instead pass a version of our legislation that stripped vital protections included in our Senate bill--provisions that protect some of the most at-risk women in our country.

It has now been 139 days since 15 Senate Republicans stood to join with us to pass this legislation because they knew the history of this bill. They knew that every time the Violence Against Women Act has been reauthorized, it has consistently included bipartisan provisions to expand protections to women who were not previously covered. They understand that domestic violence protections for all women shouldn't be a Democratic or a Republican issue.

I hope Speaker Boehner and our colleagues in the House hear this: We are not backing down and we will keep fighting because 139 days is inexcusable. In fact, 1 day is inexcusable. It is now long past time for Speaker Boehner to look beyond ideology and partisan politics. Their obstruction clearly is taking a toll on women across this country.

In fact, for Native and immigrant women and LGBT individuals, every moment our inclusive legislation to reauthorize VAWA is delayed is another moment they are left without the resources and protection they deserve. The numbers are staggering. One in three--one in three--Native women will be raped in their lifetime, two in five are victims of domestic violence, and Native women are killed at 10 times the rate of the national average.

These shocking statistics aren't isolated to one group of women; 25 to 35 percent of women in the LGBT community experience domestic violence in their relationship, and three in four abused immigrant women never entered the process to obtain legal status even though they were eligible because their abuser husbands never filed the paperwork.

While these numbers are frightening, what is even tougher is when we sit down face to face with women who are at risk of being left out of this bill. Over this last August recess I held a number of roundtables in different corners of my State with women who had been trapped in abusive relationships. Many of them are from the communities of the women whom the House Republicans refuse to extend these provisions to. Through painful memories and many tears, they told me about how they feel all alone. Numerous women who are immigrants talked about how they were scared for themselves or their children, so they didn't report their husbands or boyfriends. Tribal women talked about how not only have they been abused but how they then had to watch their abuser do the same thing to other women on their reservation with no recourse.

Every moment the House of Representatives continues to delay is another moment these women and 30 million women similar to them are left without the protections they deserve.

These statistics should make it perfectly clear to our colleagues in the other Chamber that their current inaction has a real impact on the lives of women across America who are affected by violence. Where a person lives, their immigration status, whom they love should not determine whether the perpetrators of domestic violence are brought to justice.

These women cannot afford any further delay--not on this bill. We all know what it will take to move this bill forward: leadership from Speaker Boehner. Today, the effort we started in the Senate in May--an effort that will continue for as long as it takes--is a call for the very same thing: leadership. It is time for Speaker Boehner to look beyond ideology and partisan politics. It is time for him to look at the history of a bill that again and again has been supported and expanded by both Republicans and Democrats.

For 18 years this bill has expanded protection for vulnerable women. For the last 139 days, Speaker Boehner and House Republicans have put this legacy at risk. It is time for them to do the right thing and pass the Senate's inclusive bipartisan Violence Against Women Act.

Senator Leahy, who is chair of the Judiciary Committee, will be here shortly. He has put tremendous effort into making sure this bill is passed in a way that includes women across this country. We owe him a debt of gratitude, as well as all the members of the Judiciary Committee, some of whom will be here over the next hour to talk.

Again, we are here to remind everyone there are women in this country who do not receive the protections of the domestic violence law that was passed. We are here to make sure we are going to stand for them and keep pushing until Speaker Boehner takes up this bill and passes it to protect women.

I see Senator Leahy arriving on the floor just as I was speaking about him. He will be speaking about this issue. We owe him a debt of gratitude for standing for women across this country but especially for, this time, fighting to make sure this is an inclusive bill, passed on a bipartisan vote out of the Senate, and one that will change the lives of so many women. We owe it to them and Speaker Boehner owes it to them to take up this bill and pass it.

Thank you. I yield the floor.

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I have come to the floor this evening to make a few things abundantly clear about the Veterans Jobs Corps legislation the Senate is currently considering.

First and foremost, the bill in front of us is fully paid for, using offsets that both Republicans and Democrats have supported in the past. So this bill is paid for.

Secondly, no matter what Republicans try to tell us, this is a bill that includes ideas from both sides of the aisle. In fact, of the 12 provisions in this bill, 8 of them started as Republican ideas.

We in fact included Senator Burr's entire alternative to this bill to make it even more bipartisan. On top of that, we have included bills that are sponsored by Senator Toomey, Senator Boozman, Senator Johanns, and Senator Isakson. So don't let anybody tell you we have not been inclusive in this process.

We know on this side that we do not have a monopoly of good ideas to help solve the problems of veterans who are looking for work today, and that is why we have included as many avenues to employment as possible in this legislation.

Finally and most importantly, I want to make sure that everyone who is considering voting for the budget point of order that Senator Sessions has been out here talking about and indicated he may raise knows exactly what is at stake. Believe me, every single veteran in the country needs to know what is at stake as well. What his budget point of order says is we are now going to draw a line in the sand on what we will provide for our Nation's veterans. It does not matter if the bill is paid for. The point of order puts a pricetag on the care of veterans and then says not a dime more.

This point of order really ties our hands. It says even at a time of war, even at a time when nearly one in five young veterans is out of work, at a time when the veterans' suicide rate is skyrocketing and when more young veterans are becoming homeless, we are done; veterans are on their own.

It says even if we find offsets for new investments and ideas to aid our Nation's heroes--we paid for it--tough luck; nothing you can do. It says countless bills waiting for consideration in the Senate, sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, can be tossed along the wayside.

When are we going to realize that our veterans are a cost of these wars; that helping to give them the skills and training to find work is a cost of war; that their transition home is a cost of war and it is a cost we are going to face, not just this year or next year or 10 years from now but for the rest of the lives of these men and women? When are we going to realize it is not enough to pat our veterans on the back for their service but not give them a helping hand when they come home? The budget point of order says we have done enough for veterans.

I say we cannot do enough. Less than 1 percent of U.S. citizens have served. Less than 1 percent of U.S. citizens have served for the well-being of the other 99 percent. It is simply wrong for us to say we are out of help.

Veterans across the country are watching, they are waiting, and they are tired of excuses. They want to see we can get this bill to the finish line.

I know some Republicans have pointed to the calendar as a reason for their opposition to this bill. Honestly I wish it were not September either and we did not have to deal with politics here in Washington, DC. But, you know, who could care less about what month it is or how many days out we are from an election? The nearly 1 million unemployed veterans looking for work. When you talk to them, their concern is not what month it is or how many days before election, it is about what jobs are available in their community. What training program can they take advantage of. What is being done to honor their two or three or more tours overseas.

Our answer cannot be that we are all out of options. It cannot be that their service was worth only so much. I am here to urge Republicans to join us this evening in rising above politics as we have done time and time again throughout history for our veterans, to ignore the calendar and do what is right. Let's send a message from the Senate that our veterans come first; that we will keep our end of the bargain; that we will never put a price on the commitment we owe them.

I urge my colleagues to join me in waiving the budget point of order when it is offered later this evening.

I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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