Rep. Davids Applauds Passage of Bill to Increase Focus on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

September 22, 2020 Press Release

Monday evening, a bill that addresses the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis passed by a voice vote on the House Floor and will be moving to the President’s desk. If signed into law, the Not Invisible Act of 2019 will be the first bill in history to be introduced and passed by four members of federally recognized tribes: Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk Nation), Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna), Tom Cole (Chickasaw Nation), and Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee Nation).

This historic bill will increase focus on addressing the silent crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. Full text of the bill is available here.

“I’m extremely proud to have worked with my colleagues to help address the epidemic of missing and murdered Native women and girls, who experience violence at higher rates than any other female population in the country. The Not Invisible Act is an important step to protect women and children and improve law enforcement efforts to combat this crisis. I urge the President to quickly sign the bill into law,” said Rep. Sharice Davids.

“All women deserve to live without fear of disappearing without a trace, but the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis persists and indigenous people continue to go missing. Today, we moved to say ‘enough is enough’ and passed the Not Invisible Act, which includes efforts to get meaningful input from the survivors of these horrific crimes and Tribal leaders to ensure law enforcement has the guidance it needs to address missing persons cases from people who know the issue first hand. A real solution to this crisis will never be found without the explicit inclusion of survivors, which is what is so special about this bill. I’m grateful to my colleagues in the Senate who helped move this bill forward, so that it has a chance of becoming law,” said Congresswoman Deb Haaland, Co-Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus.

More:
https://davids.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-davids-applauds-passage-bill-increase-focus-missing-and-murdered-indigenous



Sharice Davids, swearing in.