National Congress of American Indians/Flickr
As recently as last week, House Republican leaders indicated they would ignore the bipartisan Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act, choosing instead to vote on a watered-down alternative that lacks LGBT protections and would make it more difficult for tribal courts to prosecute non-Native Americans charged with assaulting women on tribal lands.
The House is expected to give in to Democratic pressure Thursday and pass the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act after failing to find a substitute that can garner the support of a majority of its members. [...]
In the end, according to GOP sources, there was greater support in the House for the Senate-passed bill than the House-drafted text.
There's apparently some procedural maneuvering on the way, but House Rules Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) told ranking member Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) that the lower chamber is likely to move on the Senate bill as early as tomorrow.
Of course, given widespread Republican opposition to VAWA, this would mean House GOP leaders would once again be prepared to advance popular legislation by ignoring the so-called "Hastert Rule," which has traditionally meant Republicans would only bring to the floor legislation that enjoyed the support of "a majority of the majority" -- whether a bill has 218 supporters is less important than whether a bill has the backing of most GOP members.
But in this case, it appears the party's leadership is prepared to get VAWA over with. If all goes according to plan -- and in this chamber, things don't always go according to plan -- the watered-down version will be brought up, it will fail, and then the House will vote on the Senate version. With overwhelming Democratic support, VAWA would only need about 18 Republican votes, which should be fairly easy to get, which in turn would send VAWA reauthorization to the desk of President Obama, who's eager to sign it.
If the plan works out, this will be the third time in two months that the House GOP leadership has ignored the Hastert Rule.
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This is going to sting alot of wingnuts who correctly realize that they can't win on this subject no matter what. Like with Immigration Reform, they need to pass it but it won't win them any votes.
Hastert used to be my Congressman. Some of his "memorable" moments.
Stopping pedophilia charges against Mark Foley.
Covering up for Tom Delay.
Forcibly changing committee memberships to protect Republicans.
And my FAVORITE. Six months after being re-elected to Congress he resigns because of "personal" reasons that would prevent him serving. That move cost the taxpayers in the district a couple of million to have a special election, which went to the Democrats.
His "personal" reason? He had to start a lobbying group before laws preventing that move kicked in.
Prior to going to Congress, Hastert was a wrestling coach at a local high school. No real personal wealth so to speak. He's now a multi-millionaire. What does that tell you?
His favorite "deal" never happened. An interstate, the route along which he had invested in heavily.
Further proof about what is usually believed about the high school coach - those who major in P.E. in teacher school do so because they can't pass anything else.
It will go down as too little too late. GOP will not win many new friends and some of their base will not be happy. Hard cheese for them.
Maybe they were having personal moments in their lives where "women were starting to shut that thing down".......
By any means necessary.....
Lysistrata is alive and well...
Yet another reason for our beloved Press Corps to put John Boehner's leadership as Speaker under great scrutiny so we can get a great sense of just how ineffectual he actually is!
All this talk about President Obama showing legislative leadership, when his office is housed in the executive! John Boehner is the one who is shirking any kind of leadership in his legislative chamber - no, duh, press, put him under an investigative microscope! -Kevo
At least some in the house leadership recognize that they are losing in the court of public opinion, and losing badly.
This move is more along the lines of the old saying, when you find yourself in a hole the first thing you should do is stop digging.
LGBT protections are very popular with young Americans and nobody outside some crazies who have the idea that white rapists on tribal lands should have special protections are opposed to letting the tribes deal with charges of sexual assault. We will see who the bigots are when they vote against the Senate bill.
Since apparently the only women who matter are straight, white women.
The so-called "Hastert rule" has got to go. It is irrelevant to this Congress and maybe to any Congress.
Time for women to find out where the teapubs are getting their millions and start pushing like they did against the Susan G. Komen foundation. It's the only god they believe in, the one named money.
And these bozos wonder why they are in line to lose the women's vote in every election moving forward. To have your head stuck where the sun don't shine is no longer a valid excuse, nor is being plain stupid either. These irrelevant goons are no longer scary as much as they are annoying. This country has suffered the idiocy of this Congress long enough, time to kick them to the curb.
I have a problem with passing the bill with all Dem and a handful of Republican votes. Boehner and the Tea Party are getting the benefit of not voting for the bill to go back to their wackos in their district. The Republicans are getting the benefit of passing the bill as an achievement when if fact, it is not. They are never going to be held accountable if they are allowed to continue to dodge these bills.
Boehner and the rest of his deaf and blind Republican House members will never see the light of day. With their poisonous ideology and limited intellectual prowess, they have relegated themselves to a state of irrelevance. On their own, they have not initiated or passed a single piece of relevant legislation. They have not even initiated or had meaningful debates on critical issues facing the country. Renaming post offices (that they’d all like to shut down or privatize), discussing if “In God We Trust” should be on our money when it already is, voting 34 or more times to repeal Obama Care , voting against women and women rights to affordable health care and abortions, etc….has been their agenda. And Boehner’s and Kanter’s big talk about “jobs, jobs, jobs” has been all talk and no action. The only action they’ve taken is blocking job proposals put forth by the President. And they are very good at manufacturing crises to have something to go in front of the cameras to talk about. This congress will, without doubt, go down in history as the worse ever.
It should surprise no one that they are against The Violence Against Women Act. It is exactly what they’ve done on other key issues despite the fact that they are out of synch with the majority of the American people. Ignorance and stupidity has no boundaries where this group is concern, and if they have not yet figured out that the American people, overall, are much smarter than they think, and will not be duped by their lies, then they are even bigger fools who may die slow painful deaths in that very deep hole they’ve dug for themselves reflected in the next elections.
Hello. I am not sure if this is the right place to talk about this. But there seems to be something weird with the Rachel Maddow Show website. From the past few days I have been having trouble streaming some of the videos on the website. are other people having trouble as well or is it just me and my computer or internet. If there is a problem I hope you can fix it soon! Thanks.
RACHEL,i very much need you to read this and if possible ,give an exspediate response! iam very upset ...i heard Obama gave the pipeline to those darn whinny asses! i worked very hard with my crew to make sure this project would be diverted to china or some other stinky capitalist country! please let us know asap...