By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on
Thursday reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, the
landmark 1994 law designed to curb domestic abuse in the United
States.
At a packed signing ceremony at the Interior Department –
the White House couldn’t accommodate all the advocates who
supported the measure, the president said – Obama signed an
expanded version of the law that extends protection to gays,
immigrants, Native Americans and sex-trafficking victims.
“One of the great legacies of this law is that it didn’t
just change the rules,” Obama said. “It changed our culture. It
empowered people to start speaking out … And it made clear to
victims that they were not alone, that they always had a place
to go, and they always had people on their side.
“And today, because members of both parties worked together,
we’re able to renew that commitment,” he said.
In thanking Democrats and Republicans, Obama was tacitly
recognizing the bill’s tough path through Congress. Republican
lawmakers initially refused to support the measure, and then
offered an alternative that advocates said would weaken domestic
violence protections for women.
In the end, 87 Republicans in the House of Representatives
and 18 in the Senate bucked party leadership to support the law
and send it to Obama for his signature.
(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko Editing by Marilyn W. Thompson
and Paul Simao)
