Senators introduced a bipartisan bill on Wednesday to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act a victory unto itself given the lack of Republican support for previous bills, and a sign that Congress may finally have the will to renew the landmark 1994 law after its authorization expired three years ago.

The bill, which has been months if not years in the making, would reauthorize VAWA programs through 2027. It also includes new provisions like expanded access to forensic exams for victims of sexual assault in rural communities; a new grant program to provide community-specific services for LGBTQ survivors of domestic violence; and new jurisdiction to tribal courts to go after non-Native perpetrators of sexual assault, child abuse, stalking, sex trafficking and assaults on tribal law enforcement officers on tribal lands.

A copy of the 335-page bill is here .

Its been an embarrassingly bumpy road for VAWA reauthorization in Congress. Once upon a time, this was legislation that passed unanimously in both chambers. How can you not support programs credited with stopping violence against women and saving peoples lives ?

But the last time Congress reauthorized VAWA was in 2013, and that was only after an ugly partisan fight over adding new protections for Native American, LGBTQ and immigrant victims of domestic violence. That authorization lapsed in 2018, and, despite the House passing bipartisan bills to renew it, Senate Republicans simply wouldnt unite on anything.

The result is that VAWAs authorization has been expired since 2019. That doesnt mean the law itself expired; it means theres been uncertainty for its grant programs and no ability to update the law with new protections that domestic violence advocates say are badly needed.

The Senate bill unveiled Wednesday is a different story.

For starters, it has bipartisan co-sponsors: Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

It also has other Republican cosponsors right out of the gate. They are Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Rob Portman (Ohio), John Cornyn (Texas), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Jerry Moran (Kansas) and, at the last minute, Richard Burr (N.C.).

Thats 10 GOP co-sponsors. Because of the Senate filibuster, it takes 60 votes to pass any bill, or 10 Republicans voting with all 50 Democrats . That means the newly introduced VAWA bill already has the votes to pass, presuming all Democrats vote for it.