Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL) said he didn’t read the Senate version of a Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, and that was why he voted against it.

Southerland, in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat’s editorial board, defended that move, saying that the Senate version was different than the House version. The House GOP’s reauthorization version didn’t include expanded protections for gays and lesbians, undocumented immigrants and Native Americans, a change that was widely debated and reported at the time.

“But the bill that was put on the floor, the last VAWA vote, came straight from the Senate, was thrown on the floor, it was a surprise, it wasn’t given to us —there was no forecast that that bill was coming. And I’ll be honest with you I think that was a political maneuver,” Southerland said.

He was then asked in the same interview if he has read the VAWA bill passed by both the House and the Senate.

“No, I haven’t read all the bill. It doesn’t matter. I don’t have it. It’s law. The horse is out of the barn. I mean it’s gone. Okay? And I didn’t have a chance to read it,” Southerland said.

Southerland’s comments come despite the fact that in his re-election campaign he’s angled himself as a strong advocates of women’s rights. His campaign also released an ad saying that he supported reauthorization of VAWA.

The Senate’s bipartisan version of the bill passed the chamber in a vote of 78 to 22 and eventually became law.

Southerland has found himself in a tough re-election fight against Democrat Gwen Graham.

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