Advocates: Get Ready for the Third Round of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

February 17, 2005

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 2005 reauthorization bill will be introduced by both the Senate and House early this spring. Please help by asking your senators and representative to co-sponsor the reauthorization. Activists should also begin to reinvigorate their local coalitions and mount the educational and lobbying campaign necessary to secure passage of VAWA 2005.

The reauthorization and expansion of VAWA must be a congressional priority in 2005. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is expected to introduce the reauthorization of VAWA in a matter of weeks and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., will follow within the next month. The timeline for passing these bills is very short, so supporters need to go into action-mode right away.

Check to see if your senators or representative were sponsors of VAWA during the last go-around. If so, ask them to sign on again as an original co-sponsor so that their name is on the bill when it is filed.
If you have new senators or representatives, touch base with them immediately, begin your education campaign around this important issue and suggest that sponsoring and supporting the passage of VAWA 2005 should be one of their top priorities this year. (In a few weeks, check www.vawa2005.org for bill summaries, talking points, fact sheets, grassroots action ideas and media toolkits — this site is not up yet, but will be soon.)

If your senators want to sign onto VAWA 2005 or need more information, have them contact Sen. Biden's Judiciary Committee staffer, Louisa Terrell, at (202) 224-0558. If your representative wants to sign onto VAWA 2005 or needs more information, have them contact Rep. Conyers' Judiciary staffer, Stacey Dansky, at (202) 225-6906.

How You Can Get Involved in the National Task Force

On Jan. 28, more than 100 organizations and advocates gathered for a meeting of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women in order to discuss the upcoming reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The enthusiasm was high, and four committees were formed to: energize the grassroots, lobby Congress in D.C., serve as communications central, and work on outreach to involve as broad and diverse a group of coalition partners as possible. To serve on any or all of these committees, contact Alex Walden of the Task Force at Legal Momentum, (202) 326-0040. National NOW is involved in all of these efforts.

Other Ways You Can Take Action

Start a folder or notebook where you collect media reports and news clippings about incidences in your community and state that involve domestic, family and sexual violence. If you or someone in your group does this for just a month, you will have a very large folder with tragic stories and "endings" that might have been preventable if we had the resources in VAWA to work on real solutions. Copy and send this collection to your policy makers—once when you ask them to become a co-sponsor, and then on a regular basis until the final vote is cast to pass VAWA 2005. Your clippings are proof that this isn't just "someone else's problem" or that "things like that just don't happen here."

Get to know the staff person who works on this issue in the local office(s) and in the Washington office of your senators and representative. They will be your best allies as you advocate for passing VAWA 2005. They can help you set up a meeting with the member of Congress or encourage her/him to attend any of your community or statewide events.

Background and Suggested Improvements in VAWA

As many of you know, VAWA was passed in 1994, reauthorized and enhanced in 2000, and is due to expire this fall unless it is reauthorized again. Because of VAWA, a broad range of services now exist to provide much-needed aid to women who must cope with the aftermath of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, rape, incest and stalking. Although we have made advances in public attention to this issue and improved services to victims since VAWA's passage a decade ago, much still remains to be done to combat and prevent intimate, family and sexual violence against women.

During these hard political times with budget deficits and program rollbacks, advocates face an uphill battle to win support for legislation that will call for more funds and expanded services and attention to this issue. But we cannot abandon nor dilute our determination to make eradicating sexual and domestic violence a fundamental national priority. We must fervently and insistently ask for support for an expanded and enhanced VAWA that continues the integrity of the original bill and diversifies the prevention and program efforts.

VAWA 2005 Improvements Must Include:

Giving violence survivors reasonable unpaid leave from work to address their situation, including attending court hearings; unemployment coverage if they can't continue working or are released from their jobs; and protection from job discrimination.
Increasing the options for survivors of domestic violence who need transitional housing.
Expanding prevention and intervention programs targeted at children and youth, and including "minors" in all programs and services. Additional attention must be paid to underserved communities and individuals.
Improving the training and education of health care providers to improve medical services for survivors.
Extending VAWA's outreach to communities near and far to ensure that everyone has access to prevention strategies and to vital protective and recuperative services.

Resources and Useful Links:

House Sponsors

Senate Sponsors

Newsletter of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (Spring/Summer 2004)

Facts from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Find out who represents you in Congress

Find info for House members

Find info for Senate members

Note: Once the bills are introduced, the language will be available at http://thomas.loc.gov and NOW will issue action alerts that you can use to email your members of Congress. In the meantime, please use the telephone and word of mouth to begin this campaign.