Tag Archives: gridlock

Leahy on VAWA: ‘It Should Not Have Taken This Long’

  By Staff Writer | February 28, 2013 4:47 pm - 4:47 pm |
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The House of Representatives Thursday voted overwhelmingly to pass the Senate’s bipartisan Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA),  sending the bill to President Obama to sign into law — but only after too many months of delay, according to one to top Senate Democrat. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, lead author of the legislation, applauded the House’s move of casting partisanship aside and taking up the consensus, Senate measure. Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and now also is president pro tem of the Senate, successfully pressed to make VAWA a top early priority in the new 113th Congress.  Obama himself called for swift resolution for the legislation in his recent State of the Union address. After rejecting a Republican substitute, the … Continue reading →

President Gets High Marks For 2nd Term Agenda, Pollsters Find

  By Scott Nance | February 13, 2013 5:05 pm - 5:05 pm |
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The second term agenda which President Obama outlined Tuesday night in his State of the Union address—expressed through new policies for energy, pay equity, jobs, and education—was well-received by voters, a prominent Democratic polling organization finds. The president made impressive gains on his personal favorability and trust to move the country in a direction that reflects voters’ values. Following the speech, voters gave him high marks on women’s issues, looking out for the middle class, and plans for the economy, the pollsters at Democracy Corps add. The results were arrived at through dial testing and follow-up focus groups with 44 swing voters in Denver, Colo., the pollsters say. Even Republicans in the pollsters’ audience responded positively to Obama’s plan for … Continue reading →