(Image source: M. Scott Mahaskey / Politico ) BY STEVEN SPARKMAN ANCHOR ZACH TOOMBS The Senate voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act Tuesday, but the legislation could still stall in the House. The Act sets aside money for the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence crimes, and provides programs for victims of abuse. ( Via Congress.gov ) Reauthorization of the Act stalled in Congress last year over Republican opposition to new amendments, including extending protection to homosexuals, illegal immigrants, and Native Americans. (Via The New York Times / NPR ) The Senate bill passed 78-22, with all Democrats and roughly half of the chamber’s Republicans voting in favor. All women, Democrat and Republican, voted for the bill. ( Video via C-SPAN ) Conservative groups came out against the Act, urging Republican Congressmen to fight its passage, saying dealing with domestic violence is a matter best left to the states. Heritage Action , an advocacy group formed by the Heritage Foundation, also took issue with the Act, calling it a “key vote” in the group’s conservative scorecard. One big issue for Heritage and other conservative groups is an amendment meant to protect Native American women on reservations. Native women face much higher rates of assault, partly because of the legal difficulty of prosecuting non-Native men who attack women on the reservation. Tribal courts lack jurisdiction over non-natives, leaving prosecution up to state and federal prosecutors who have so far been slow to investigate. (Via The New York Times / America's Wire ) The new amendment would grant tribal courts the ability to try non-Native men who commit assault while on the reservation. But Heritage Action claims the amendment, along with the rest of the act, amounts to a violation of constitutional rights. “Under VAWA, men effectively lose their constitutional rights to due process, presumption of innocence, equal treatment under the law, the right to a fair trial and to confront one’s accusers, the right to bear arms, and all custody/visitation rights. It is unprecedented, unnecessary and dangerous.” But many Republicans don’t agree. Seventeen House Republicans sent a letter urging their party leaders to pass the act, which may show they feel it’s a losing political issue. ( Via Huffington Post ) No word yet on what House Republican leaders plan to do about the bill. The tribal courts amendment is the same provision that Republicans say kept them from passing the reauthorization bill last year.