Tell Congress to Do the Right Thing: Enhance and Pass the 2019 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
At this moment, the 2019 Re-Authorization of VAWA is sitting in the US Senate. It has been sitting in the Senate for about 6 months waiting for approval. Unlike previous sessions of Congress (both Republican and Democrat-controlled), there is not an esprit de corps at work on behalf of female citizens of the United States.
Like most laws, VAWA needs to change with the times. At each previous reauthorization, needed changes were acknowledged and agreed upon. This year, some of the most contentious changes, like those to protect vulnerable populations like immigrants, were removed in the House bill. The monetary increases are a drop in the bucket considering we are talking about the lives of women and children. In particular, it will help keep women and children safe if there is recorded abuse, reconsider the sentence length of convicted women who were abused, provide more educational / prevention of assault services in colleges and provide money to educate on abuse in early education.
There is NO reason that this enhanced legislation shouldn’t pass the Senate.
If it doesn’t, VAWA may end up being re-authorized with the 2013 standard language and funding, severely hampering expanded efforts to protect women. The amount of money is very small relative to other government programs and should NOT be a stumbling block. What it DOES require is for the government to take action where it may not have provided resources heretofore.
Over the next few blogs, I’ll go into more detail on VAWA but due to the time-sensitivity of action in this Congress, I will focus on what is at stake if the bill is not enhanced.
In April 2019, the House passed its version of VAWA re-authorization which includes the following list (courtesy of the National Association of Counties.) For the full set of potential enhancements please click HERE.
Expanding Services, Training, Officers and Prosecutors (STOP) VAWA grants to include additional community resources for response to incidences of domestic violence
Increasing SMART Prevention Grant funding to support youth violence prevention education programs from $15 million to $45 million, each year through 2024
Increasing grants for combating violent crimes on campuses from $12 million to $16 million annually
Supporting training in early childhood programs on domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking
Expanding gun buying restrictions to include individuals with a misdemeanor conviction of domestic abuse or stalking
Preserving and expanding housing protections for survivors
Enhancing law enforcement tools and safeguards for the Office on Violence Against Women within the U.S. Department of Justice
ACTION: Please reach out to your senator and demand that he/she pass the House version of VAWA.
Let’s protect women and children in this great country. By doing so, we are protecting our future!
