October 5, 2018

This Texas Republican Would Really Prefer You Don’t Ask Him About the Violence Against Women Act

“You still want to keep running this camera, or you want to learn about this?” 

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, speaks with reporters as he leaves the House Republican Conference meeting in the Capitol.Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/AP

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The Violence Against Women Act, a landmark law passed by Congress in 1994 aimed at protecting women who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, is set to expire on December 7. And while two VAWA-related bills have been introduced in the House, including a long-term extension by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and other House Democrats, no Republicans have yet to sign on as co-sponsors.

So at a forum in Dallas on Thursday, a local TV reporter asked Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions about voting against VAWA reauthorization five years ago. Sessions, who is in the middle of a contentious reelection campaign against Democrat Colin Allred, a former NFL player turned civil rights attorney, decided to use the opportunity to mansplain to a reporter how Congress works.

A video of the exchange shows Sessions, chair of the House Rules Committee, going back and forth with NBC 5 reporter Laura Harris in an increasingly testy manner. Sessions said he supported the law but eventually told Harris she was “confused” before lecturing her on the difference between policy and appropriations. When Harris pushed him further, Sessions responded, “You still want to keep running this camera, or you want to learn about this?” 

After the clip surfaced, Allred’s campaign manager, Paige Hutchinson, tweeted that Sessions couldn’t defend his voting record, adding it was “time for new leadership.” 

Sessions, who has the backing of President Donald Trump, will greet Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Ted Cruz next week. A recent New York Times/Siena poll showed that the Sessions-Allred race remains tight, with Sessions up by a mere point. 

Meanwhile, Sessions isn’t the only lawmaker up for reelection whose support for VAWA has come into question lately. In another tight Texas race, Democrat Lizzie Fletcher called on incumbent Rep. John Culberson to support Lee’s bill and criticized him for failing to “stand with the women of Texas in addressing the epidemic of violence against women.” Culberson also voted against VAWA renewal in 2013. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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