Senator Amy Klobuchar is in Minneapolis Monday for a roundtable discussion with community leaders and local advocates to discuss improvements for the next re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
Sen. Klobuchar notes that extending the VAWA protects more than just women, “every minute 20 people in the US are victims of physical violence by an intimate partner, that’s about 10 million people every year and we know that it’s a cycle. Kids that witness domestic violence in the home are twice as likely to commit it themselves.”
Klobuchar says the idea of today’s discussion is to get ideas from victims, advocates and law enforcement on ways to improve the bill moving forward, “It’s so important for Minnesota. We think about all the work we’ve done across the state on reducing domestic violence, especially on tribal lands and we want to make sure that that work continues.”
Klobuchar, who is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will be joined by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont for the discussion at the Harriet Tubman Center–which helps women, children and families struggling with relationship violence, substance abuse and mental health issues.