VAWA Passes In Congress | Video

Julie Leonardi | 2/28/2013

Congress signed off on the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act this afternoon. The bill is now on its way to President Obama`s desk and he says he will be signing it as soon as it reaches him. The bill was co-sponsored by North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp. It will include protection for gays and lesbians and Native American women that are abused on tribal reservations. The bill also provides funding to the Domestic Violence Crisis Center in Minot.

Dena Filler, Director of the Domestic Violence Crisis Center, is thrilled about the bill. “Now that it`s passed by both the senate and the house and is headed for the President’s desk. We`re pretty excited about that fact that it was a lot of hard work by a lot of different people to make this happen.”

Senator Heitkamp is also pleased with how everything turned out. “We are thrilled! Not only that it passed, but that it passed with such important provisions for Native American women and for all of our families, for all of our people in North Dakota.”

Native American women who live on reservations face a much higher rate of domestic violence and sexual assault than other women.

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