From House Democrats?  Nope.

Leading women's organizations?  Sorry – groups that oppose this dangerous legislation include: the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Network to End Domestic Violence, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Break the Cycle, Legal Momentum, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, YWCA USA, AAUW, Business and Professional Women's Foundation, National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, American Bar Association, NAACP, National Council of La Raza, Human Rights Campaign, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and National Congress of American Indians.

But the Republican rollback of VAWA received a special endorsement today from a group particularly attuned to victims of domestic abuse.

The Huffington Post – House VAWA Bill Picks Up Unhelpful Ally: National Coalition For Men

The House Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, which has been decried by women’s rights groups as a dramatic rollback of protections for domestic violence victims, has picked up the backing of a group that may prove to be an unhelpful ally: the National Coalition For Men.

Talking Points Memo – National Coalition For Men Endorses GOP Version Of VAWA Bill

…the president of the National Coalition for Men, wrote to endorse the House GOP's VAWA bill over a Senate-passed counterpart that extends the laws protections to same-sex couples, immigrants, and native American women (you can read the full letter here):

"The House has the opportunity to pass H.R. 4970, a victim-centered VAWA reauthorization bill, endorsed by women and men. Those opposing H.R. 4970 loudly assert that VAWA serves all people, which is absurd on its face given the name of the Act. Opposing versions, by omission and lack of specificity, generally exclude men, particularly heterosexual men, regardless of specious arguments to the contrary."

It's one testimonial that says it all.

Now is the time for the House GOP to take a cue from their friends across the Capitol and bring the bipartisan, Senate-passed VAWA to the House floor immediately:

Washington Post's Plum Line – GOP Senator pressures House Republicans on Violence Against Women Act

It's been widely reported that house Republicans are in a difficult spot over the Violence Against Women Act, at a time when the battle over the female vote has intensified between the parties.

Now, with a high stakes vote on a version of the measure set for later today, things could get a bit harder: A female Republican Senator is joining with Democrats to call on House Republicans to drop their opposition to the Democratic version of the bill, which extends protections to same sex couples.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has added her name to a letter signed by Senator Patty Murray and 11 other Democratic Senators calling on John Boehner to pass the Senate version of the bill, which passed the Upper Chamber already with an overwhelming majority of 68 votes…

The safety and security of American women depends on it.

Over the weekend, Leader Pelosi led a bipartisan Delegation to Afghanistan, the first delegation to enter the country since President Barack Obama and President Hamid Karzai signed the historic Strategic Partnership Agreement.  The two-day visit, which included visits to Helmand and Kandahar provinces, allowed the delegation to not only visit troops on Mothers’ Day weekend, but to also take part in important discussions with diplomatic and military officials, and the women of Afghanistan.

On Sunday, the delegation met with President Karzai to discuss regional security and stability issues, including reconciliation and reintegration efforts.  The delegation also met with General John Allen, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan and U.S. Forces and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker on counterinsurgency operations and the transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghan people.

Leader Pelosi on her visit to Afghanistan:

Sunday marked the third phase of the transfer of lead security responsibility to the Afghan forces.  On every occasion, our delegation stressed the importance of Afghan women being involved in security decisions, especially in light of the upcoming NATO summits in Chicago and Tokyo.

Recognizing the significant role that our troops play in Afghanistan, we were pleased on Mothers’ Day to travel to Helmand and Kandahar provinces to hear directly from regional commanders on the ground and their coalition partners in the most critical areas in Afghanistan.  Our delegation was also honored to participate in a celebration in honor of Mothers’ Day at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province with many mothers serving in our Armed Forces.

Photos from Afghanistan:

Speaker John Boehner and the "House GOP leadership [are] considering linking a short-term extension of the expiring Bush-era tax cuts to an overhaul of the tax system this summer…" [Roll Call, 5/15]

President Obama and Congressional Democrats support extending tax cuts for America's middle class, but Republicans are threatening to raise middle class taxes unless the wealthiest Americans are excused from paying their fair share.

Leader Pelosi already responded last week to Speaker Boehner: "…when we talk about the tax cuts for the millionaires expiring at the end of the year, Democrats are saying we want tax cuts to expire for people making over $1 million a year and that money will be used to reduce the deficit, not to increase spending.  The Speaker has said he wants all of these to be renewed.  We simply cannot afford that.  We cannot afford people making over one million dollars a year to get [more tax breaks]." [Press Conference, 5/10]

This afternoon, Speaker Boehner will try to trick the American people with smoke and mirrors in a speech laying the groundwork for the GOP scheme to protect millionaires by threatening to harm the full faith and credit of the United States government – setting up another manufactured crisis.

House Speaker John A. Boehner plans to demand deep cuts in government spending in exchange for raising the federal debt limit, setting the stage for another tense standoff with Democrats over the soaring national debt…Higher taxes, however, are still off the table, a Boehner aide said. [Washington Post, 5/15]

House Democrats have consistently stood up for seniors, small businesses and the middle class against GOP attacks.  That won't change with the with the next round of hoaxes from Congressional Republicans.

"The bipartisan efforts of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on a range of issues have attracted grumblings from the right."  [The Hill, 5/14]

Wait. What?

From the moment Republicans took charge of the House, they've had no shame jeopardizing the health and economic security of middle class families while advancing their ideological agenda that rewards millionaires, companies that ship jobs overseas and Big Oil:

Showering the rich and famous with tax cuts

Jeopardizing the payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans

Raising Costs for Seniors on Medicare in order to give more tax cuts to millionaires

Rolling back critical protections for America's women

Reducing student loan interest rates only at expense of women's health

Refusing to vote on a job-creating bipartisan Senate transportation bill  

Threatening a government shutdown

Bringing America to the brink of default

This week it is more of the same as House GOP leaders bring to the floor what they call their bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act instead of the bipartisan Senate-passed version.

Congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein put it best when they wrote recently:

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country's challenges… [Washington Post, 4/27]

It's time for the GOP to put aside their extreme agenda to protect millionaires, Big Oil and corporations that ship jobs overseas and work with Democrats to pass legislation to strengthen America's middle class families and small businesses and protect women, seniors and students.

As Speaker John Boehner and the House Republicans push their millionaires over middle class and Medicare, obstruction-only agenda, it's America's women who will once again pay the price this week on the House floor.

New York Times – Editorial: Backward on Domestic Violence

In an all-too-rare show of bipartisanship, 15 Senate Republicans joined with the Democratic majority last month to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, the landmark 1994 law that is key to efforts against domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Unfortunately, the lopsided 68-to-31 Senate vote halted G.O.P. opponents only temporarily. The House Judiciary Committee last week approved its version of the reauthorization bill, which not only omits improvements the Senate bill made to the law but also removes existing protections for immigrant women, putting them at greater risk of domestic and sexual abuse.

The Senate's measure ensures that victims are not denied services because they are gay or transgender. It also strives to ensure that domestic violence crimes committed by non-Indian men in tribal communities are prosecuted…

The regressive House alternative removes these and other improvements, including new protections for students on college campuses. The House measure would eliminate a confidentiality requirement in current law that protects the identity of immigrant women who file domestic violence complaints against a spouse who is a citizen or legal resident and allows the women to apply for legal status on their own.

House Republicans claim there is a big fraud problem in this area, but there is no hard evidence of that. And their plan to end the centralized handling of these issues by a Vermont-based office would undermine the government's ability to detect untruthful stories.

House members on both sides of the aisle who are serious about combating domestic violence must work to defeat this atrocious bill…

With the safety and security of women at risk, the time is now for Republicans to end this partisan gridlock.