I was astounded that U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman voted against the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act.

His office said he did not want to give American Indian tribal courts jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indian rapists. What kind of logic is this? Did he not know that local law enforcement outside the reservations also has no jurisdictional authority either to arrest these rapists?

Law enforcement tells us it has become a game for non-Indians to go on the reservations and rape the Indian women because they know no one will or can arrest them for the crime.

Wittman constantly votes the party line rather than voting to protect women. If those women were his constituents, would he protect them or do what the party says?

Where were his family values when this vote was taken? I'm sure he has a mother, a wife, and maybe daughters. Does he know that this law affects their lives, too? They also are entitled to the same protections as all other women.

We women will remember his vote in his next election bid.

Diana Egozcue

Stafford