The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), first passed in 1994, provides funding for domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, legal aid for victims, and law enforcement training. For 25 years, VAWA reauthorizations had been broadly bipartisan and uncontroversial.

In 2019, the House passed a reauthorization that expanded protections for Native American women (who suffer the highest rates of domestic violence in the country), LGBTQ+ victims, and immigrant women. The bill had bipartisan support.

McConnell let VAWA expire. He refused to bring the House-passed bill to a vote and offered no alternative. For months, critical funding and protections lapsed.

How It Harmed Americans:

When VAWA funding lapses, domestic violence shelters lose staff, rape crisis hotlines go unanswered, and legal aid programs close their doors. Native women, who already face a jurisdictional crisis where non-Native abusers often escape prosecution on tribal lands, were left without the expanded protections the bill included. LGBTQ+ survivors were denied the explicit nondiscrimination guarantees the bill would have codified.

VAWA was eventually reauthorized in 2022 with some of these provisions restored — but only after years of McConnell's obstruction left survivors without services they depend on.

Reference List:

• H.R. 1585, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, 116th Congress

• National Network to End Domestic Violence, "The Impact of VAWA Expiration" (2019)

• National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, "Restoring Safety to Native Women" reports

• Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Violent Victimization by Race and Ethnicity" data