Action Alert: Strengthen the Family Violence Provisions in the Senate Welfare Bill

Action Needed:

Please contact the Senate Finance Committee and ask them to include "improved" Family Violence provisions in their welfare reauthorization bill before the bill goes to the Senate floor.

TO CALL OR SEND A FAX, here is a list of the members of the Senate Finance Committee and their phone and fax numbers.

To SEND AN EMAIL to the entire Senate Finance Committee, click here.

Background:

A fact sheet and model letter about the proposal to enhance the Family Violence provision in the welfare bill are available on NOW's Welfare page. It is not clear when the Finance Committee will finalize the bill, so please fax your letter, make your phone call or send an e-mail message as soon as possible.

The Senate Finance Committee passed a "conceptual" version of welfare reauthorization on June 26 and is still working on the details of the bill before it goes to a floor vote (probably not until after Labor Day). We have heard from our Senate friends that the Finance Committee members may be willing to accept an enhancement to the current Family Violence provision, if only to avoid having to vote on a "violence" amendment during the welfare debate. The original Family Violence provision was included in the 1996 welfare bill and allowed states to screen TANF recipients for domestic or sexual violence, refer violence survivors to counseling, offer legal assistance and safety programs and provide waivers from time limits and other requirements.

We need to ask the Senators to "improve" and "strengthen" the Family Violence provision by replacing the option with a requirement that every state allocate some of its welfare funds to domestic and sexual violence programs and resources, such as counseling for victims and domestic violence training for social services workers.

NOW worked with Senators Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Representative Lucille Roybal Allard (D-Calif.) to include a Family Violence temporary waiver in the 1996 welfare bill. Congress made it an "option," not a mandate and NOW worked for two more years to clarify the intent of the Family Violence Option so that it would allow states to provide services to poor women experiencing violence without subjecting them to sanctions. For information on the Family Violence Option and the need to expand it, view NOW LDEF's state-by-state discussion.

Backup plan: In case the Family Violence improvements do not make it into the Finance Committee bill, we will be asking you to contact all Senators and ask them to support a floor amendment, offered by Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.).