but gwen moore was able to persevere and now she's in congress.e against women act was introduced by joe biden but it expired this year. they weretheyjust in their minds they were doing enough to help women but to help gay people went too far. >> i pray that we'll come together as one to protect all women from violence. as i think about the lgbt victims who are not here, the native women who are not here, the immigrants not included in this bill, i would say ain't they women! >> michael: wow, finally today 500 days after they let the act expire house republicans caved and reauthorized the bill, some of them did. the vast majority, 138 republicans still voted against it. but with the support of the house democrats it passed. joining me now chris teens pelosi she joins the california women's caucus. welcome inside "the war room." >> thank you. >> michael: why did they cave? what forced the republicans to cave on this. >> millions of american women and men who rose up and said enough is enough. rape is rape. it could happen to any of our daughters. i

congresswoman gwen moore of wisconsin is also with us tonight. and congressman steve lynch of massachusetts. great to have all of you with us. i want to let our viewers know that we're having a technical problem with the connection with congresswoman moore's picture, but it's important that her voice be here with us tonight. so from milwaukee that's how we're going to do this. and we'll go to her first. congresswoman moore, thank you for your time. do you believe that these poll numbers make it easier for democrats and progressives to stand strong and win the conversation as we move forward. your thoughts. >> ed, i think they're absolutely critical. because i think the republicans feel that they're in the catbird seat. these cuts that are in the sequester, the $85 billion minus the defense cuts, are a republican's dream of ending so-called big government, ending job-killing regulations, to do what grover norquist has always wanted to do, to shrink government and make it so small that you could drown it in the bathtub. and even though between 1.4

joining me is gwen moore, who powerfully spoke of her own rape on the house floor.he representative from naral. first of all, congratulations taking over the mantle of naral, but you also had written about the actions of the minority make our great nation a hypocrite in the eyes of so many around the world. so in lieu of what we expect this afternoon, how worried are you we could see some other signals of defeat? >> i am not that worried. i mean, i think people are understanding that the flip side of the war on women is the empowerment of women. we're seeing that come through in almost every story you've covered, right? women are making changes in gun policy. women are actually leading on what our health and reproductive choices look like. that's because we're a coveted demographic, and we have dreams and thoughts and desires about how this country should be run that we're not willing to forgo. >> i added when we talked about this the fact that the hitch last year was the resistance to added protections against lbgt, illegal immigrants, native-americans. what is the

but i just want to say that -- how proud i am of congresswoman gwen moore. she comes from wisconsin. she is a respected leader in the house. she has made this -- i would say her life's work, but she has a number of things on her agenda, but she has made a tremendous difference. not only in terms of this legislation, but more importantly in terms of what it means, what it means in the lives of america's women. all of america's women. with that, madam chair, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentlewoman from washington is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: just to make a couple of clarifications. number one, the house, led by the republicans, passed legislation in early may last year to re-authorize the violence against women act. number two, funding has continued. $599 million. at this time i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from north dakota, kevin cramer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields how much time to the gentleman from north dakota? mrs. mcmorris rodgers: two

but i just want to say that -- how proud i am of congresswoman gwen moore. she comes from wisconsin. she is a respected leader in the house. she has made this -- i would say her life's work, but she has a number of things on her agenda, but she has made a tremendous difference. not only in terms of this legislation, but more importantly in terms of what it means, what it means in the lives of america's women. all of america's women. with that, madam chair, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentlewoman from washington is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: just to make a couple of clarifications. number one, the house, led by the republicans, passed legislation in early may last year to re-authorize the violence against women act. number two, funding has continued. $599 million. at this time i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from north dakota, kevin cramer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields how much time to the gentleman from north dakota? mrs. mcmorris rodgers: two

balance of our time, 4 3/4 minutes, we now give to the distinguished the gentlelady from wisconsin, gwen moore. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for the remainder of the time. ms. moore: thank you, madam speaker. thank you, distinguished ranking member of the judiciary committee. i've listened very carefully and very patiently to all of my colleagues in the house. and it seems like everyone in the chamber is against the violence against women. it's just which women we want to protect remains the -- to be the question. you know, for the last 18 months, it appears that i have lived in some sort of twilight zone where there's sort of like that program on tv "sliders" where there are alternate realities. this debate recalls that alternate reality, when we hear a support of the house amendment over the senate amendment, we hear that all women are protected. for example, the senate bill supports lgbt victims in the senate bill, but the house bill strikes lgbt women as underserved communities and it also strikes the language that would have them as a protected group to not be di

gwen moore has been a champion and the author of this bill, the bill we had then, the companion bill we have in the house. congresswoman slaughter was a lead author of the bill when it was initially authorized in the 1990's. congresswoman kirkpatrick has a large population of native americans in her district and can speak firsthand for the need of this legislation. and we are honored to be joined by the once-chairman, hopefully chairman of the judiciary committee, mr. conyers, our ranking member, who has been a leader on this issue as well. mr. hoyer. >> thank you very much, madam leader. i'm pleased to be here with all of you. there are mostly women on this platform. this is not a woman's issue. this is an everybody's issue. every father, every husband, every brother, this is an issue about everybody. yesterday, the senate once again passed a reauthorization of the violence against women act. 78-22. all the democrats voted for it. a majority of the republicans voted for it, and every woman member of the senate, republican or democrat voted for it. when i co-sponsored the original ac

i want to thank leaders from both parties especially leader pelosi congresswoman gwen moore in center leahy for everything they have done to make this happen. renewing this bill was important step towards making sure no one in america is forced to live in fear and i look forward to signing it into a lot of sensitive to my desk. i would note the vote in the house was bipartisan substantially. it was 286-138 and that included 199 democratic yes votes and zero no votes and 87 republican yes votes, 138 republican no votes. secondly i would like to mention the republican bill in the senate that supposedly would provide flexibility on how to deal with our implement the sequestered. we have put out a statement of administration policy on this and i think you will know that we believed no amount of flexibility changes the fact that these severe cuts threaten thousands of middle-class jobs and slash vital services for children and seniors and our troops and military families. there is no way to cut spending this dramatically over a seven-month. map without drastically affecting national securi

we have our own -- we'll call upon our leadership of gwen moore who has a similar bill in the house, we stand ready to support the senate version, the senate passed it, we support t. the president is ready to sign it. once again the republicans in the house are the obstacle to passing this legislation. . it's hard to explain to anyone why we would say to the women of america, women of america, step forward. we are stopping violence against women, not so fast if you are an immigrant or a member of the lgbt community or a native american. what is that? violence against some women and not others. and quite frankly, the groups that are excluded are the groups that are in most need of protection against violence. so, i would hope that in the course of the debate that we will move on to on the violence against women act that we will all open our hearts to what is needed to reduce violence in the lives of america's women. in the meantime, we have a procedure that is not preferable . we have asked over and over again as the distinguished the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen has said,