Renewing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) should be a no-brainer. Then again, House Republicans aren't known for their mental acuity, and Vice President Joe Biden knows it. The GOP has never exactly warmed to the idea of expanding access to certain visas for non-citizens who were victims of domestic violence.

Clearly, beating up, maiming, demeaning, and psychologically damaging non-citizens doesn't affect all those compassionate, family-valuesy Republicans the way beating up, maiming, demeaning, and psychologically damaging U.S. citizens does.

Standing by and doing nothing as women experience pain and suffering apparently doesn't faze them, especially women who look and/or sound different than conservative white male Congress members.

This must all be part of that stellar GOP rebranding effort intended to win over more female voters.

And as he is wont to do, Joe Biden called them out.

CNN:

Touting the success of the Violence Against Women Act, Vice President Joe Biden described those in Congress who slowed the renewal of the measure as a "Neanderthal crowd."

"I'm going to say something outrageous," Biden said at an event at the vice president's residence in Washington Thursday night to celebrate the 19th anniversary of act, which is designed to protect women from domestic violence.

Biden, who took a leading role in the mid-1990's in drafting the legislation when he was a senator from Delaware, said "surprisingly last year we ran into this sort of Neanderthal crowd," to laughter, adding that "I'm serious, I mean, when you think about it, did you ever think we'd be fighting over 17 years, 18 years later? To reauthorize this."

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