WASHINGTON (National Times) \u2013 A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Wednesday agreed a deal to renew a long-lapsed law to strengthen domestic violence protections, just hours after Hollywood actor and humanitarian Angelina Jolie made a tearful speech of support.<\/p>\n
Jolie\u2019s voice broke as she acknowledged the women and children \u201cfor whom this legislation comes too late\u201d in a speech in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cStanding here at the center of our nation\u2019s power, I can think only of everyone who has been made to feel powerless by their abusers by a system that failed to protect them,\u201d Jolie, wearing a black suit and pearls, said.<\/p>\n
The Violence Against Women Act expired at the end of 2018 and U.S. President Joe Biden, who originally sponsored the bill as a senator in 1994, had campaigned on renewing it.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives approved its renewal in a 244-172 vote almost a year ago, but legislation stalled in Congress amid partisan disputes over access to guns and transgender issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason many people struggle to leave abusive situations is that they have been made to feel worthless. When there is silence from a Congress too busy to renew the Violence Against Women Act for a decade, it reinforces that sense of worthlessness,\u201d said Jolie. \u201cYou think, I guess my abuser is right. I guess I\u2019m not worth very much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republican Senators Joni Ernst and Lisa Murkowski and Democrats Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein issued a joint media release confirming they had reached a \u201ccompromise\u201d deal to get the bill moving.<\/p>\n
Biden said in a statement he was \u201cgrateful that this critical bipartisan bill is moving forward, and I look forward to Congress delivering it to my desk without delay.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (National Times) \u2013 A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Wednesday agreed a deal to renew a long-lapsed law to strengthen domestic violence protections, just hours after Hollywood actor and humanitarian Angelina Jolie made a tearful speech of support. Jolie\u2019s voice broke as she acknowledged the women and children \u201cfor whom this legislation comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n