Congressman Maloney Visits Safe Homes After VAWA is Signed

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A Hudson Valley Congressman was in his region Friday, celebrating the passage of the Violence Against Women Act. President Obama signed the bipartisan bill into law Thursday.

The legislation expands a 1994 law to include domestic-violence and sexual-assault protections for Native Americans, illegal immigrants, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victims. Democratic Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney Friday toured Safe Homes of Orange County in Newburgh, a not-for-profit agency that provides domestic-violence services to victims and their families. And he describes what he says is such an important facet of the Act.

He says one of the ways the legislation could help a place like Safe Homes is in providing grants to help protect women from violence.