The last two Congresses — the 111th and 112th — made history with near record lows of number of bills passed during their respective tenures. While their ineffectiveness is wasteful and harmful to the country, our representatives had good reason to disagree so strongly on many of the bills that they failed to pass. But last year they failed to pass one law that makes perfect sense — a law that should not be controversial at all — the Violence Against Women Act.

The Senate passed the reauthorization of this essential bill with an overwhelming majority two weeks ago. But now, the House has introduced their highly edited and stunted version of the bill, and it seems that once again, VAWA may not be reauthorized. Or it may pass, but it might be lacking some important provisions.

The best part of the Senate’s approval of the bill was not the bipartisan support it received but the expanded protections for under-served groups — namely, Native Americans, immigrants and members of the LGBT community. Women of all races, nationalities, ethnic groups and sexual orientations who are victims of violence need the protections and support services funded and authorized by VAWA. But those women who come from traditionally marginalized communities need them even more.

House Republicans disagree. Rather than recognizing that these groups need special protections, they say that naming these groups leaves out others who are unnamed even though they have no specific examples of groups not enumerated in the Senate bill. Furthermore, they could easily add more groups to the list of those who need expanded services if that were actually their problem with the bill.

But it’s not. The GOP’s problem is that they don’t want to make female victims a priority. They want to balance the budget instead of funding life-saving programs. They want the folks at home to see that they don’t support the LGBT community in any way — not realizing that a majority of Americans support gay marriage — an issue that is much more controversial than providing services to LGBT victims of gender-related violence.

VAWA provides services that save lives. Its protections and programs are essential for all women, and declining to pass the bill for the second year in a row would not only be a huge failure on the part of Congress, it would endanger the women who need these protections. Prominent among these women are the marginalized groups that the Senate wants to protect. They need the Violence Against Women Act. If we’re going to live in a safe and just society, we all need the Violence Against Women Act

A version of this article appeared in the Feb. 25 print edition. Jess Littman is a staff columnist. Email her at [email protected].