Rumored Romney Running Mate Marco Rubio Votes No On Violence Against Women Act

[Laura PourMeADrink]

3. Politico: Why Rubio Voted No

http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2012/04/why-rubio-voted-no-on-domestic-violence-bill-121846.html

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio may be on the short list to be the Republican VP nominee, but he took a risk in voting against the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday.

Notably, two other potential Mitt Romney running mates -- Rob Portman of Ohio and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire -- voted for the measure, which was approved by a 68-31 vote. Fifteen Republicans out of the 47-member Senate GOP Conference voted for the bill.

Rubio says he supports reauthorizing the law and hopes to vote "yes" when a House-Senate version returns for a final vote.

But Rubio said he voted against the Senate plan because it would "divert" funding away from domestic violence programs to sexual assault cases, "without any evidence that the increased funding will result in" further prosecutions. He said it gave the Justice Department too much power at the expense of state groups and added that it didn't address other federal programs that are duplicative.

Rubio's office says the freshman senator was siding with the group Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which raised concerns about the measure.

Whether that's enough to diffuse potential attacks in the heat of a presidential campaign remains to be seen.