BLUMENTHAL: After the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA), the senator urged the House to do the same.
“Now that we’ve won an overwhelming bipartisan battle in the Senate — which I was proud to help lead — we must take this fight to the House and end the epidemic of domestic violence that victimized 54,000 women in Connecticut last year alone,” he said. “New provisions I proposed will advance the Violence Against Women Act to the new frontier of internet crimes — helping to stop cyber stalking and cyber harassment or impersonation. We have renewed and strengthened this landmark measure — but the fight must be redoubled.”
LIEBERMAN: Lieberman and three other senators — Carl Levin (D-Mich), John McCain (R-Ariz) and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C — wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to reject “premature and militarily unjustified reductions” to the Afghan National Security Forces.
“A key part of our Afghanistan strategy has been that, as U.S. and coalition forces draw down, increasing numbers of capable Afghan forces will be available to sustain and expand the hard-won gains that U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces have secured at great cost in blood and treasure,” the senators wrote. “Achieving this objective requires correctly sizing the ANSF to provide enduring security for their country, and ensuring the funding necessary to support that end-strength.”
HIMES: According to a statement released by his office on Friday, the congressman expressed his thoughts on the Majority’s bill to offset a one year freeze on interest rates for federally subsidized Stafford loans with elimination of the Prevention and Public Health Fund:
“Yes, we must keep student loan rates from increasing, and yes we should fund standard cancer screenings for women who can’t afford them, but it’s a false choice to pit those items against each other on a balance sheet. We will not solve our nation’s problems without genuine bipartisanship, but time and time again, House Republicans take hostages when they should be shaking hands.”
DELAURO: The congresswoman also released a statement on the student loan proposal through her office:
"The Republican majority in this House is involved in a political shell game on this issue," she said. "They have voted to eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund. Today they want to tell you they are going to take money from it to pay for student loans. You can’t end a fund and then talk about taking money from it."
MURPHY: The congressman also addressed the Majority's proposal by recalling his personal experience with paying student loans:
"My wife and I are amongst those that are paying back our student loans today," he said. "We know what those college students know: $5,000 over the next ten years could break the bank."
