Battered women's advocates are hard at work talking to members of the new Congress about the importance of services for battered women and children, and prevention and intervention programs.  The 108th Congress has 63 new members, and leadership in the Senate has shifted parties bringing many new staff members who may not be familiar with the issue.

The first priority for advocates this year is to protect funding for
violence against women programs based in both the U.S.  Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S.  Department of Justice.  With federal budget deficits projected to be large, President Bush pushing tax cuts and a potentially costly war looming, there is great pressure for cuts in other programs.  In addition, the proposed budget introduced by the President on Monday calls for sweeping cuts in funding in some domestic social programs.

Our highest priority at the Family Violence Prevention Fund and across this movement is to ensure that we protect and, if possible, increase federal funding for the services that domestic violence victims and their children so urgently need, said FVPF President Esta Soler.  We will not sit by while federal lawmakers walk away from their responsibility to prevent abuse and protect women and children who are living in violent homes.

The Bush Budget

The proposed Bush budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 reorganizes how the federal government funds programs stipulated under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and cuts funding for some programs.  In appropriations for the U.S.  Department of Health and Human Services,  the Administration proposes increasing funding to the National Domestic Violence Hotline by approximately $900,000 as compared to FY 2002, while cutting funding to shelters and services for battered women by about $500,000.

In appropriations for the U.S.  Department of Justice, the Bush budget calls for cuts totaling around $15 million for domestic violence programs.  This includes cuts in grants to fund programs that combat violence against women, encourage arrest policies, address domestic violence in rural areas, provide legal assistance for victims of abuse, address domestic and sexual violence on college campuses and provide support and services to children who witness domestic violence.

Legislative Agenda

Battered women's advocates are urging Congress to disregard the Administration's proposed cuts to essential VAWA programs and pass a budget that increases funding to services that will support victims of violence and their families.  Advocates also are calling on Congress to pass legislation that will further assist battered women and their children.  These critical bills include:

*        Keeping Children and Families Safe Act

Legislation to reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment  Act and improve the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act was introduced in the House of Representatives early in the new session. While the new version of the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act, which includes both programs, has many positive features including
reauthorization of language to fund transitional housing for battered women, it fails to include recommended provisions that would assist children who have been exposed to domestic violence.  Advocates hope that language, which was sponsored by Senator Paul Wellstone in the last session of Congress, will be included in the Senate version of the bill.  Specifically, advocates are calling on the Senate to: support the children who witness provisions that would provide grants
to shelters to assist the children living there; provide funds for
community-based programs that aid children who were exposed to violence; and train child welfare caseworkers on the dynamics of domestic violence and the strong overlap between domestic violence and child abuse.  Advocates hope to encourage Congress to pass the measure as a tribute to the late Senator.

*        Welfare Reform Legislation

Battered women's advocates also will work to block parts of the welfare reform package that the Bush Administration is pressing.  Some studies have found that as many as 60 percent of families receiving support from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program have experienced domestic or sexual violence.  In particular, advocates will seek to block measures that: fail to address domestic and sexual violence or other barriers to work; increase work requirements for welfare recipients; subsidize state programs that encourage marriage and sexual abstinence outside of marriage; fail to restore benefits to legal immigrants; and fail to provide adequate funding to allow families to meet their child care needs.

*        Domestic Violence Screening and Treatment Act

Representatives Lois Capps (D-CA) and Steven C.  LaTourette (R-WI) will re-introduce the Domestic Violence Screening and Treatment Act in the House of Representatives early this spring.  The measure is designed to help health care professionals respond better to family violence and would provide grants to states and communities, including state domestic violence coalitions, to develop partnerships with health care providers to work in collaboration with their health care systems to respond to family violence.

*        Other Essential Measures

The policy agenda for domestic violence this year also includes efforts to:
  Ensure that legislation that was passed last year to move the Office on Violence Against Women out of the Office of Justice Programs and into the main Department of Justice is fully implemented;

.  Pass the GAINS (Global Action and Investments for New Success) for Women and Girls Act, to increase assistance to women and girls in developing countries, stop gender-based violence around the world, and improve health services and educational opportunities worldwide;

.  Pass the Victims' Economic Security and Safety Act, to address obstacles that battered women face in the workplace by: permitting temporary unpaid leave from work for victims who seek assistance; providing unemployment compensation to victims who lose their jobs because of domestic or sexual violence, prohibiting employment discrimination against victims, and prohibiting insurers from discriminating against victims of domestic or sexual violence;

.  Pass the Women Immigrants Safe Harbor Act (WISH) to lift the ban on public benefits to battered immigrants and give them access to health,  food and income benefits;

.  Pass the Our Lady of Peace Act, to help states improve their
background check systems so that fewer batterers will be able to purchase guns; and

.  Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) - the only comprehensive international standard for eliminating discrimination against women, which is critical to the health and safety of women throughout the world.