WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday voted to renew a lapsed law aimed at preventing domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, approving the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a top priority of President Biden.
The measure was included in a sprawling $1.5 trillion spending package to fund the government through September. First written by Mr. Biden in 1994 when he was in the Senate, the law expired in 2019 under President Donald J. Trump and has languished since, even as Mr. Biden has pressed for Congress to strengthen and renew it.
The legislation goes next to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.
“The expiration of VAWA three years ago put many lives in jeopardy,” Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, said in a statement, using the acronym for the law. “It is such good news that it is finally being reauthorized.”
He called it “one of the most important laws passed by Congress in the last 30 years.”
Introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, the measure would expand protections for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, provide more resources and training programs for law enforcement, fund rape crisis centers and broaden access to legal services for survivors, among other things.