HuffPost reports:

For his final act in Congress, retiring Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) single-handedly killed a bill that would have helped combat the horrific levels of violence directed at Native women.

For her final act in the Senate, Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D), who lost her re-election bid in November, unsuccessfully fought to push Goodlatte out of the way and let her bill, known as Savanna’s Act, become law.

With both of them gone in the new Congress that begins on Jan. 3, the question remains: Is Savanna’s Act gone too? It turns out Heitkamp’s real final act was locking in a Republican colleague to carry the torch for her.

“I’ve committed to Sen. Heitkamp that this priority that she has helped to advance, I am going to encourage every step of the way, aggressively and early,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters last week, according to an audio recording provided by Murkowski’s office on Wednesday.

In an act of pettiness, Goodlatte blocked Savanna’s Act from reaching the floor of the House of Representatives even after the Senate approved it unanimously.

Thanks to Murkowski, a decent Republican, the Act will have a second chance in the new Congress next year. And Goodlatte will be remembered for ending his 26-year career in Congress on a nasty and sour note.