this reauthorization's no exception. it implies lessons learned from those working in the field and renews our commitment to reducing domestic and sexual violence. we ought to listen to the people on the front lines of protecting those vulnerable populations. we should be able to pass a strong reauthorization that addresses the needs of all women. i thank senator leahy and many others in this chamber for their leadership. i want to take a moment to discuss a provision which i mentioned earlier in the bill. a troubling help society of "frontline," the pbs program that many of us watch and respect, detailed one woman's story in great detail. but that wasn't an isolated incident. the national prison rape elimination commission, created by congress, has said -- quote -- "as a group, immigration detainees are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse and its effects while detained. the prison rape elimination act of 2003, known as prea, was designed to eliminate sexual abuse of those in custody. it was bipartisan, championed by t

should you get around to reauthorizing before that?gnore those two lessons at our collective peril. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. are you agreeing that we should put this out of or dr. king basically saying we should reauthorize soon saying they have stability and know what to do in the future. i didn't -- i kind of got that at the end there. >> sure, sure. i mean, you decide when it's best to reauthorize. i will not presume to do that. we don't want to jerk states or schools around so that if you do rethorrize as quickly as you -- reauthorize as quickly as you hope to, it's important to be conscious of the transition that most schools in most states go through with a movement to new standards so to build in enough flexibility in the construct that it doesn't jerk people around. >> thank you. you said in the testimony about nclb, the law did a great deal of good. i hope that fact is never lost, and then you said before that some disadvantaged kids were left behind. that's why -- why nclb is considered a landmark bill, by t

the law then was reauthorized by consensus.hing similar could have happened again last year, but it did. just provisions were forced into the bill. some of these provisions were controversial. some raised serious constitutional concerns. but those on the other side of the aisle insisted on these provisions without change and refused any sort of middle ground. it appeared that the debate was more about blame and politics than it was about providing help to women in need. last congress, both the republican leader and this senator offered that the senate consent to striking a provision that violated the constitution's origination clause, and then we would proceed to conference. everybody knows that the constitution origination clause says that issues involving raising revenue must start in the other body. well, this bill raised revenue, and consequently violated that constitutional provision. yet, today senate 47 has removed that provision that raised this blue slip problem in the other body. it does this only a few months after t

it is a parallel effort to our reauthorization of the violence against women act. our effort will stop human trafficking at its roots by supporting both domestic and international fights against trafficking, but then to punish those who perpetrate it. we provide critical resources to help support victims who even once they are discovered, one they are freed, they have to rebuild their lives, sometimes ian extraordinarily difficult thing to do. it ensures that law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to effectively combat all forms of trafficking. it ensures better coordination among federal agencies and between law enforcement and victim service providers and with foreign countries to work on every single part of this complicated problem. but it also includes measures to encourage victims to come forward and report this terrible crime. many times they are afraid to or think if they do report it, nothing will happen other than retribution against them. we try to make it possible for them to report it. when they do, it not only leads to more prosecution, but

and welcome back today the senate voted to reauthorize the violence against women act the major anti domestic violence law first passed back in one nine hundred ninety four the law also known as provides a number of protections for abused women and gives assistance to law enforcement agencies to curb violence against women unfortunately that was expired last year when republicans caved to election year politics and refused to reauthorize a new way that included more protections for undocumented immigrants native americans and women in same sex couples in other words republicans opposed stopping violence against women and be opposed violence against women unless those women are lesbians and documented immigrants or native americans but now that the election is over the senate again took up the measure passing it today by a vote of seventy eight to twenty two now i know you're thinking who are those twenty two senators who opposed reauthorizing the violence against women act well here they are all twenty two of them all of them as you expect are men and one of them marco rubio is givin

legislation is not static as it comes up for reauthorization its time to improve it. every time legislation comes up you think what do we need to do to improve it to make it work better. this is exactly what we do and move forward make sure that everyone is covered under this piece of legislation. >> i can answer why those things were put in. extension of the what war on women that democrats wanted to put forth during the election cycle last year. it was successful pr campaign that the republicans did abysmal job of countering this is one of them. you call it violence against women act. who could be against violence against women. those republicans they hate women, they want to see them abused. all the rhetoric -- >> but then i ask you if there are only these minor expansions they're not huge, they're not -- in the scheme of the federal government they cost zero or .0001% why not just go along with it if they don't want to be accused of being against women? >> because those aren't the only issues. the price tag is a problem as well. it went from $450 million a lot of

this law was reauthorized by congress overwhelmingly in 2006.e if shelby county could be trusted, if all these other jurisdictions could be trusted, congress would have shelved the voting rights act and section five when they had a chance to during the reauthorization. martin, look at this, in 2006 it passed the house 390-33. it passed by 98-0 in the senate. you can't get votes like that in congress these days. that should tell the american people that this is something that congress believed needed to be maintained. >> so, john, do you think the thing that changed all of this happened in 2008 when a certain individual happened to win the presidential election? >> well, perhaps. >> okay. maria teresa, we just went through an entire election that was haunted by efforts to suppress turnout, as you know, in the guise of protecting the vote. we had all kinds of voter i.d. laws in states like pennsylvania, the purpose of which was made very clear by one of the leaders of the pennsylvania gop. take a listen, maria teresa. >> which is going to allow go

congress has reauthorized it three times before. including 15 republicans. and i mention this -- and i go into the detail, mr. president, because i want people know this is a pai parallel effort to our reauthorization of the violence against women act. i was preparing to move it separately. other senators offered trafficking-related are amendmes to the vawa bill. so it made sense to offer this amendment at this time. it's now the opportunity to pass the trafficking victim protection reauthorization act and take a giant stride forward to help trafficking victims. i offer to help human trafficking at its roots by supporting both domestic and international efforts to fight against trafficking but also to punish those who fer ta perpetrt and we provide necessary resources to help supportvictims as they try to rebuild their lives. the amendment includes new measures to ensure better partnership and coordination among federal agencies between law enforcement and victim service providers and with foreign countries to better address every p

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 act in 1994, we had strong

here is senator chuck grassley explaining why he voted against reauthorization. >> you have a jury. the jury is supposed to be a reflection of society. under the laws of our land, you got to have a jury that is a reflection of society as a whole and on an indian reservation it's going to be made up of indians, so the nonindian doesn't get a fair trial. >> leaders of native american tribal organizations are demanding a retraction from grassley calling his comments offensive and factually wrong. goldie taylor is an msnbc contributor and a columnist for msnbc.com. nia-malika henderson is a political reporter for "the washington post." thank you for joining us. goldie, aside from insulting native americans, grassley didn't bother to read the bill because it clearly states tribal juries provide fair and impartial hearings and that they include a cross section of the community, including nonnative americans. would it not be helpful if he read it before rejecting it?

and there will be of boat to reauthorize the violence against women act. democrats and republicans could not work out their differences last year to reauthorize the act, so they are trying again. the new law would extend protections to gays, lesbians, immigrants, and native american women. >> there is great concern among federal workers as the government moves closer and closer to sequestration, which would force significant cutbacks. rebecca cooper is live in our news from. she has the latest on the issue. >> with no deal in sight federal workers are bracing for the impact. without the deal, federal spending could be cut by as much as $948 billion, up over $109 billion per year cut from domestic programs. from training in the fields to medical research in labs, federal workers are being warned to be ready. they think that sequestration is coming. many say the biggest fear is the unknown. this maryland resident is not worry too will lose her job, but she is worried that the local economy will be slowed. >> the district of columbia is heavily dependent on f

previously, violence against women act was reauthorized unanimously. something similar could have happened again hast year -- last year, but it didn't. new provisions were brought forth into the bill, some very controversial, some even raised serious constitutional concerns. but those on the other side insisted on these provisions without any change and refused to compromise. it appeared that the debate was more about blame and politics than it was about providing help to women in need. last congress both the republican leader and this senator offered that the senate consent to striking a provision that violated the constitution's origination clause and then proceeding to conference. the majority spurned those efforts on both occasions, yet today s. 47 has removed the very provision that raised the blue-slip problem with the house of representatives because, as we all know, all bills raising revenue urge under the constitun must start in the house of representatives. it does this only a few months -- the majority does this only a few months after the m

in 2006, congress voted on reauthorization.in the house of representatives it passed with 390 votes, 192 republican, 192 democratic, in the senate it passed with 98-0, 54 republican, 44, democratic, and the supreme court today, the one facing the horrible threat to its sovereign dignity, those two senators, both republicans, voted for re-authorization in 2006. here is president george w. bush signing the legislation with congressional leaders, the congressional black caucus and civil rights leaders. during his remarks, the president said this. >> my administration will strongly enforce the provisions of this law, and we'll defend it in court. >> so on one level, the national level, the voting rights act has been the rare issue not subject to tremendous partisan polarization. and yet on another level, the law designed to prevent the infringement on voting rights, the head of the pennsylvania party in the state legislature actually bragged about passing a law that disenfranchised the voter opposition. >> voter id, which allows go

at 5:30 they'll be voting to advance a bill reauthorizing the violence against women act. that's a domestic violence law that expired in 2011. members of both parties are attending retreats this week, and as a result of those retreats, the senate is expected to be out on tuesday and wednesday, and in the house no legislative business is expected on thursday or friday. as always, you can watch the house live on cell phone sparks and the -- on c-span, and the senate right here on c-span2. earlier today we covered a speech by alaska republican senator lisa murkowski who talked about energy issues. here's a brief look. >> so within our report we declare five principles. in addition to energy is good -- i'm trying to make this really simple for everybody through the morning fog of a monday morning. [laughter] energy is good, and then there's five principles. it is in our national interest to make energy abundant, affordable, clean, diverse and secure. i've even put them in alphabetical order for ease of memory. [laughter] no acronyms here this morning, that's just going to conf

the house leadership is serious about getting the violence against women act reauthorized and protecting our most vulnerable victims of rape and domestic violence, stalking and human trafficking, simply take up the senate bill. so many republicans here, democrats here, independents here support it and pass that bill. you know, this picking and choosing of who is going to be considered a victim. mr. president, i have said so many times on this floor, i almost wonder if anybody hears it. like many other senators, i had the privilege to be a prosecutor before i came here. i went to a lot of very violent crime scenes at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning. and some of them i remember almost as graphically as if it was yesterday. where a victim of severe violence, often dead, is there on the floor. the police never said well, we have to find out if this victim is gay or straight, if this victim is native american or immigrant, no. he knew a victim was a victim was a victim. if somebody has been treated that way, a crime has been committed, the police wanted to find who committed the crime and sto

and welcome back today the senate voted to reauthorize the violence against women act the major anti domestic violence law first passed back in one nine hundred ninety four the law also known as provides a number of protections for abused women and gives assistance to law enforcement agencies to curb violence against women unfortunately that was expired last year when republicans caved to election year politics and refused to reauthorize a new way that included more protections for undocumented immigrants native americans and women in same sex couples in other words republicans oppose stopping violence against women and be opposed violence against women unless those women are lesbians and documented immigrants or native americans but now that the election is over the senate again took up the measure passing it today by a vote of seventy eight to twenty two now i know you're thinking who are those twenty two senators who opposed reauthorizing the violence against women act well here they are all twenty two of them all of them as you expect are men and one of them marco rubio is giving

passed in 2007 and reauthorized at the end of last year the n da allows us to arrest citizens on our soil and this repeats is first incarceration of japanese who didn't have a right to a trial. those provisions violate the fundamental our fifth amendment right to a due process and our 6 and 8 amendments. those allow journalist to be detained. we all know that those who forget history tend to repeal it and our middle eastern families have - whose rights are violated. i want to thank my colleagues and dozens of other organizations including the bill of rights committee. the rest of my items i'll submit >> thank you that concludes roll call for introduction. thank you >> thank you. >> now, it's time for the public to address the policy items and the items adaptation. please know that items that have already been voted on will not be allowed to be commented on. >> thank you let's hear in our first speaker. >> first, i would like to tell our mayor and david kim, carman, yee and my favorite mar. >> including the neighbor and my building happy happy chinese new year for all you guys. i want

the national instant check system is up for reauthorization at the end of this year. this is a perfect time to look at ways we can improve on the background check system and do more to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and people with serious mental illness. at the same time, protecting the second amendment rights of law- abiding citizens. when the president comes to the congress for the state of the union address in a very emotional setting, calls for a vote and repeats that over and over again, and his administration has the poorest record in more than a decade in enforcing gun laws -- including the people who rely on the forms that they fill out for the instant check system. the system only works with accurate information. there is a lot of work to be done to get the states to put more information into the database, particularly about people with mental illnesses. when you have instances covered -- uncovered where false information is put on the form, 4500 are referred for further investigation and you only have 62 cases where out of 76,000 the government

keep in mind, ed, we just reauthorized it in 2006. it was 98-0 in the senate, and 390-38 in the house. you can't just do away with that. >> scalia says it's the name of the bill. whom would vote against that, the voting rights act? that's how simplified it's gotten with them. congressman, great to have you with us tonight. i really appreciate your time. thank you. now let's turn to karen finney, msnbc political analyst and former communications director of the dnc. and also with us dr. james peterson, a professor of english at lehigh university. karen, you first. today was just a bad sign for the future of voting rights in america in the voting act? >> it was very disturbing. certainly what we heard from the court a fundamental lack of understanding from the practical reality of what is happening in this country. remember, part of the reason we had to have these laws about preclearance is the tactics that were used from beating people as we saw to these kinds of insidious poll taxes and tests. and now we know we have plenty of evidenc

a top native american leader is urging house lawmakers to reauthorize the violence against women act and follow tribal governments to prosecute non- native men who abuse women on tribal lands. jefferson kiel, president of the national congress of american indians, made the remarks thursday in the state of indian nations address. he said the death rate of native women on some reservations is 10 times the national average. nearly 60% of native women are married to non-native men, and according to justice department data, non-native men carry out 70% of reported rapes against native women. >> today, tribes to not have the authority to prosecute non- natives who beat, raped, or even kill women on tribal lands. state and federal authorities are often hundreds of miles away without the local resources to investigate crimes. in recent times, u.s. attorneys have declined to prosecute a majority of violent crimes in indian country, most of which are related to sexual abuse. no other government would stand for this violation of sovereignty or continued injustice, no other government should, an

passing in 1994 and then later reauthorized, it's actually never been controversial. never been partisan and political in the way that it has this time. the way that we got here is that the republicans failed to be able to get a vet on their own bill that would have stripped protections for victims who are in the lgbt community, would have stripped protections for women on indian reservations. and would have made distinctions about people who received domestic violence services and instead we passed the senate bill that didn't draw those kind of distinctions and never drawn in services and shelters and programs and passed the bill we should have passed long ago and did it in the house and senate with bipartisan support. to be sure, in the house, it required democrats once again to put the bill over the hump. >> 30 seconds i have left here and while i have you, i want to ask you about the sequester. is there a sense of urgency at all underneath that dome right now? >> there's not a sense of urgency of republicans as far as i can see. in fact, some of them are actually

the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013. mr.aker, the violence against women act has been successful. we have seen its benefits. it has saved lives and helped millions of women find safety, security and self-sufficienty. while there are deeply held differences about some policies in the bill we consider today, now is the time to reauthorize the violence against women bill. if a daughter, a sister, a perfect stranger, was raped, battered or needed helped, no one would ask or care what her ethnicity was, national origin, sexual ownertation, before coming to her aid, nor should the violence against women act. no community, no person, should be neglected when it comes to domestic violence. as a father of a young daughter, grace katherine, i don't know or care what her ownertation is. she and all women and girls should be equally protected under its laws. we have the opportunity now to timely pass a bipartisan, inclusive, violence against women act that service providers, law enforcement and most importantly, all victims, all victims

it's time to reauthorize the bill with both a good name and good effects.ng your lies and lines any longer. sincerely, melissa. >>> when we come back, the state of the american man and why kevin bacon may be the best actor to play the movie version of president obama. [ male announcer ] zzzquil™ sleep-aid. it's not for colds. it's not for pain. it's just for sleep. because sleep is a beautiful thing™. ♪ zzzquil™. the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil®. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. yes, you could. for tapping into a wealth of experience. for access to one of the top wealth management firms in the country. for a team of financial professionals who provide customized solutions. for all of your wealth management

i'm dying to talking to you about this it took more and a year for the senate to reauthorize the violence women act. and when they finally did that, 22 republicans voted know including lindsey graham and rand paul and marco rubio. you're a woman julie. >> thank you. >> john: if i was a political party and i was trying to get women to come back and vote for me wouldn't i bite the bullet and reauthorize the violence against women even if it includes women on reservations and lesbians. >> women on reservations are not women? if you're not with violence against women or you're for it. >> is this legitimate rape. >> john: the objection is for lgbts in general women who live on reservations and undocumented women. they're giving up on those demographics for votes but do they think people respect paying attention to this. >> even slave owners, well, we got property. native americans we're on the same page. i'm good, guys. >> john: it's lose-lose. >> i'm impressed they read every part of these bills. on anything important they don't see the detention part. but when it comes to an immigrant, the r

it was passed in 94 and it wasn't reauthorized again until 2000 and then it wasn't reauthorized again until 2005 and then we've now been working, we're on the third year trying to reauthorize it this time. so it's a huge drain of advocates' time that we would wrath ber spending in direct service. host: but clearly there are laws on the book if any man abuses a woman, if any man hits or injures or kills somebody there are laws in the book to -- that would go after them. so why do you need this act as well? what's the difference between what our laws already in play on the books and what this act does? guest: certainly there are state laws on the book as there were 40 years ago. there were always laws against assault and battery. but having law enforcement attend to them in the same way as they did stranger assaults was a lot more difficult then. and the one of the things that the violence against women's act has done is enhance that. but it also provides funding for law enforcement and funding for those local programs, those shelters, those hot lines, those data bases that make it poss

from workers oversite to confirming well qualified nominees to reauthorization laws to reach consensus on the future of housing finance, there are steps this committee can take to promote consumer confidence, provide business priority to move forward with long term plans and strengthen our economic recovery. chairman bernanke, i look forward to hearing your views as both the fed and the congress pursue policies supporting our nation's economic recovery. i now turn to ranking member crapo. >> thank you, mr. chairman. today we will hear from our federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke, who will testify on the fed's monetary policy and the state of the economy. mr. bernanke, i want to thank you at the outset for your on-going initiatives to improve transparency of the federal open market committee. because so much is at stake for the u.s. economy, the fed has the responsibility to make as much information available to the american people as possible on its actions. i also thank chairman bernanke for his steadfast reminder to us that one of the most important risks to our economy is our fis

the vote comes after the house failed to reauthorize vila.he first time since the bill originally passed in 1994, it was not reauthorized easily and with bipartisan support. the widespread and deserved outrage at the bill not being reauthorized san indication of how accustomed we've become to bills like this. it's easy to forget only a generation ago, ms magazine published a cover story in 1976 that was considered generally revolutionary. it was when women's society tame to see violence against women as an issue to be addressed by policymakers. that is one of complete social transformations of how we view the world and feminists. a new documentary, called makers, women who make america. chronicles the history of the second amendment that led to epic levels of violence against women. mark quinn, former police officer, talks about how the document finally broke through. >> it wasn't strong leadership and politicians. it wasn't police leaders or judges. it was the women's movement which forced lawmakers and police executives to stand up and say

so why wouldn't we want to just rush to reauthorize it?one it twice before. it also parallels that 25 states enacted 42 anti-choice measures. when we look at the map this year, there are 19 states with anti-choice governors and republican state legislatures. >> you know, one of the worst and there are many, but among the worst are giving physicians to violate their professional conduct by not sharing important information about the condition of the fetus. how much more twrised can they get in their approach? >> and another thing that bolters me is that just today, while you were finally getting this delayed vikts ri, republicans in arkansas were overriding the governor's veto of a nearby on abortion starting in the 20th week of pregnancy and backed a second measure that would out law the procedures in most cases beginning in the 12th week. >> you know, the irony is that you can argue that these kinds of bills are unconstitutional. and our republican colleagues are quick to say, but we don't want to do anything that's not constitutional. we

the house voted today to reauthorize the 1994 law that has set the standard for antiviolence programst that was after republicans first tried to pass a different version of the bill which democrats said did not do enough to protect gay couples, immigrants and native americans. the final legislation was passed without the support of a majority of republicans. >>> time is running out in washington d.c. for the sequestered deadline. federal agencies will begin cutting their budgets across the board tomorrow if congress fails to reach a budget agreement. senate democrats say they have a plan to prevent this and say it will eliminate tax loopholes and raise taxes on at least some millionaires. however, republicans are rejecting that plan. >> we expected that bill will get majority support in the senate. the only reason why it might not pass the senate is because a minority of republicans would filibuster that bill. >> it's time they got off the campaign trail and started working with us for a change. >> unless congress acts by tomorrow's deadline $85 billion in across the board spending cu

federal transportation the reauthorization and what will the success or to map 21 look like? the current zone map 21 just basically continued at appropriate levels as seen underpass federal appropriation bills. if we are going to be supporting the expansion and state of good repair programs that their local transit agency and departments need, we will be need to be seeing additional revenues, of course and we will be continuing to monitor and advocate on that behalf and also continuation of the transit pretext benefit. map 21, proposed and inincludes rather an increase in the tifia loan program. and by about ten found and increase from 100 million a year to 1 billion dollars a year and allows for programs of projects as opposed to stand alone projects. in the state of declining revenue and highway trust fund moneys, exploring alternative ways of delivering projects is a must for the locals and so public private partnership and design options for another alternative finance approaches are things that we will monitor and bring to the board for recommendation, and also, tracking

>> we're talking about reauthorization. in 2006 congress looked at the jurisdictions to determine what is happening in those just tk +*eubss now. that's the 15,000 pages of testimony. and it's based on that determination of the ongoing nature of discrimination in those jurisdictions they authorized. moreover, the act has built into it a process from getting out from under section 5. it's called bailout and every jurisdiction that's sought bailout has been granted bailout. off clean voting record for ten years you can get out from under section 5, new hampshire has a pending bailout petition right now. many people think the state of virginia is close to be able to bail out. all the jurisdiction has to do is have clean hands which alabama-- and almost every justice in the court concreted today-- does not. >> woodruff: we'll leave it there. share lynn aoeu if i feel, hans von spakovsky, thanks very much. >> ifill: you can listen online to a collection of viewer stories about the voting rights act as part of our special oral hi

the supreme court upheld the act's constitutionality back in 1966, and it's been reauthorized by congress four times. in a political op-ed, two former judiciary committee chairman, including republican jim sens sensenbrenner said, "based on ample legal precedent and our systemic review during reauthorization, we expect the supreme court to continue to declare that section 5 is critical to protecting minority voting rights." and by the way, that it's congress' job to deal with this. . >>> back to sequester, joining me now is david gregory, moderator of nbc's "meet the press." mr. gregory, good morning, on a wednesday morning. the end game. i say this because you asked this question of republican leaders, of folks at the white house, and other than hope, there doesn't seem to be a strategy. >> right. because i don't think we're at the end game yet. i think the key for republicans is how do they unlock some kind of entitlement cuts. which i think the white house is willing to do, just not yet. and for the white house, it is, it had to unlock tax reform that can raise some additional revenue.