Press Releases

As Congress recognizes Women’s History Month, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today joined 244 members of Congress in passing a long-overdue reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Pingree is a cosponsor of H.R. 1620, which serves as a bipartisan and robust VAWA reauthorization that will provide support for critical grant programs, including for victim services, prevention, training, education, enforcement, economic stability, and other programs that support survivors and help them to heal and access justices. This overdue VAWA reauthorization will ensure that these successful programs from the 1994 law continue and are strengthened. 

“As the nation’s first-ever law recognizing the scourge of domestic violence, the Violence Against Women Act broke the stigma and improved the personal safety of millions. In the nearly 30 years since its passage, Congress has continued to reauthorize and strengthen this vital law which has reduced domestic violence rates by half,” said Pingree. “I am proud that this bill includes language that I supported to finally extend protections to Maine tribes. It is beyond time that Congress act to ensure all people have the resources and tools necessary to prevent domestic abuse in our communities.

Pingree has worked to include language in the bill that will expressly ensure Maine and Alaska’s tribal communities are protected under the jurisdictional provisions of VAWA. The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act has been interpreted to leave Maine out of VAWA’s provisions to protect Native women, resulting in tribal victims of domestic violence in Maine and Alaska losing out on protections that have been extended to tribal victims of every federally recognized tribe in the country. If H.R. 1620 is signed into law, Maine’s tribes will be allowed tribal jurisdiction over domestic violence cases involving their members and their reservations. Benefits include increased public safety for all of those living on tribal lands, increased community conversations about domestic violence, updates to tribal criminal codes, and increased collaboration among tribes and local, state, governments.

National surveys have shown that Native American women are twice as likely to have been victims of rape or sexual assault and roughly two-thirds of the perpetrators of these crimes were not Native Americans. Native women are also significantly more likely to have been stalked and assaulted.

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