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GOP Rep. Reportedly Stalling Violence Against Native Women Bill in Congress

North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp says Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte is the sole person responsible for holding up Savanna's Act, legislation to combat abuse against Native women.
Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte

With mere days left of the 115th congressional session, a single outgoing congressman is reportedly holding up a bill that would combat violence against Native women.

North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who first introduced the legislation, known as Savanna's Act, in October 2017, says Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte is doing everything in his power to make sure it doesn't go to a House vote.

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"Just last week, Savanna's Act passed with unanimous support in the U.S. Senate," Heitkamp wrote on Twitter on Thursday. "It’s clear that folks on both sides of the aisle appreciate the need to address this crisis in Indian Country. … [Representative] Goodlatte is blocking my bill."

Goodlatte won't say precisely why he's sitting on the anti-violence legislation, but an aide to the Judiciary Committee, of which Goodlatte is chair, told the Huffington Post that the GOP representative's hesitation has to do with the language of the bill.

"We have been working on this bill in order to advance it, including working with [Department of Justice] and stakeholders to address issues with the language,” the aide said.

Neither Goodlatte's nor Heitkamp's offices have returned Broadly's request for comment.

Savanna's Act is named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a 22-year-old Native woman who was eight months pregnant at the time her family reported her missing in August 2017. Days later, LaFontaine-Greywind's newborn baby was found in a neighbor's apartment; her body, wrapped in plastic in a nearby river.

After LaFontaine-Grewind's murder, the United Tribes of North Dakota called on state lawmakers to take action on a "much larger problem of epic proportions" represented by her death—the high rates of violence plaguing Native communities, which amount to some 84 percent of Native women experiencing some form of violence, according to the National Institute of Justice.

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Heitkamp heeded their call by introducing Savanna's Act, which requires the DOJ to keep more meticulous records in its federal databases for cases of missing and murdered Native peoples. The legislation would also streamline law enforcement protocol for responding to and investigating reports of the missing and murdered and require law enforcement to consult with tribes when doing so.

The bill has received overwhelming bipartisan backing in the Senate, where, as Heitkamp mentions in her tweet, it passed unanimously earlier this month. It's urgent for Heitkamp that Savanna's Act makes it to a House vote. Being an outgoing member of Congress herself, it's essential that the legislation get to President Donald Trump's desk before a new Congress is sworn in.

In the past week, Heitkamp has used her Twitter account to pressure supporters of the legislation to call Goodlatte's office, and has even called on Goodlatte's son to "talk some sense" into his father.

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“My bill is being blocked from a vote in the U.S. House because of petty partisan games being played by one individual, Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte,” Heitkamp told the Huffington Post.

“Unlike Congressman Goodlatte, I am serious about saving lives and making sure Native American women are invisible no longer―and I’m determined to not let Savanna’s Act go down without a fight," she continued. "And I hope every member of Congress puts pressure on him so we can pass Savanna’s Act now.”