Biden honors Violence Against Women Act

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden marked the 16th anniversary of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which he helped draft when he was a senator from Delaware.

"I was raised to believe that the cardinal sin any human could commit was to abuse power: economic, physical, or any other kind," Biden said at the reception Wednesday at the Naval Observatory. "Violence against women is the very worst abuse."

The Violence Against Women Act was passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and has been reauthorized in 2000 and 2005.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a staunch supporter of programs to combat domestic violence, was among the approximately 100 guests.

Biden said President Obama asked him when the two first talked about the vice presidency about the one thing he wanted to do.

"I said I want many things, but one of them is I want control of the Violence Against Women Act," Biden said. "God ain't made a new brand of men and women in the last few millennia, so that's why we have to keep working to change the culture."