Joe Biden releases plan to end violence against women, days after fundraising with two Dems accused of mistreating women
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, who has seen a not-so-settled run in recent times and also a challenge from none other than President Donald Trump over his past connections with Ukraine, has sparked yet another controversy. On Monday, November 18, the former vice president released his plan to end violence against women and it came just five days after fundraising with two politicians who have been accused of assaulting women.
Biden, who served as the senator from Delaware for 36 years and had sponsored the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that aimed to protect victims of domestic violence, was seen at the fundraising event held on November 13. The occasion also saw the presence of current Delaware Senator Tom Carper and former senator from Connecticut Christopher Dodd. Both these Democrats, aged above 70, have been accused of violence or misconduct against women. The duo has endorsed Biden for president ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Biden vows to work relentlessly on women's safety issue
After the fundraising, Biden said that he would aim for getting the stalled VAWA bill enacted into law within the first 100 days of getting elected to the White House. He also has planned to run a television advertisement this week to speak for his success with the VAWA bill, a report in the Daily Beast said. The Democratic-controlled House has passed a reauthorization of the VAWA bill but it has been stalled in the Senate because it is full of “partisan political talking points,” Republican Iowa Senator Joni Ernst said.
Biden’s website said that the presidential candidate’s promises about ending violence against women include expanding the safety net for survivors and taking the initiative to confront abuses met online. It was also reported that Biden spoke about his 1994 VAWA bill in the presence of Carper and Dodd.
Carper and Dodd are accused of mistreating women
While Carper is accused of beating his wife during an argument, Dodd has allegedly assaulted a waitress sexually at a restaurant in Washington DC. The former admitted in 1998 about him hitting his now-deceased wife on her face during an argument. He even regretted it and said it was a “stupid thing” to do. The charges of domestic violence against Carper came up as early as in 1982 but he denied them as he was running for the Congress for the first time.
Dodd, on the other hand, had reportedly manhandled a waitress at a restaurant along with former Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy. It was reported that the two lawmakers had gone to the posh La Brasserie restaurant along with their dates but grabbed a waitress in the absence of their partners to perform what is notoriously known as “waitress sandwich” incident.
“Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd, for instance, who participated in the famous ‘waitress sandwich’ at La Brasserie in 1985, while their dates were in the bathroom — have tended to get out of it by claiming that their boyish high jinks had simply gotten out of hand,” a 1998 New York Magazine article said.