Today, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53) presided over the House floor during consideration of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021, landmark legislation that will reinstate and expand protections for victims of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment, stalking, and domestic violence.

The landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994, written by then-Senator Joe Biden, ushered in transformative progress by calling for the protection of all Americans from violence and abuse and working to ensure survivors have access to essential services and to justice. Despite widespread support for its reauthorization, VAWA expired in 2018 under the Republican Majority in Congress.

Following the House’s final passage of the bill, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs released the following statement:

“I am so proud to support the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. This pandemic has exacerbated and exposed the grim reality of gender-based and intimate partner violence, and I am grateful that Congress is once again affirming these protections and helping to save lives.”

Among other improvements and expansions, this bill improves services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; works to better protect Native women; improves the health care system’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; and protects victims of dating violence from firearm homicide by closing certain loopholes in current firearms laws in order to help prevent intimate partner violence and stalking.