118 HRES 1558 IH: Supporting the goals and ideals of October as “National Domestic Violence Awareness Month”.
U.S. House of Representatives
2024-11-01
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EN
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IV
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1558
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 1, 2024
Mr. Green of Texas (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Allred, Mr. Amo, Ms. Barragán, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bera, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Brown, Mr. Buchanan, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Case, Mr. Casten, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Costa, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Deluzio, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Ellzey, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Fletcher, Mr. Foster, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Robert Garcia of California, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mrs. González-Colón, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Himes, Mr. Ivey, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Kean of New Jersey, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Landsman, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McBath, Ms. McClellan, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Moylan, Mr. Mrvan, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Neal, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Sablan, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sánchez, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Scholten, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Sorensen, Mr. Soto, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Torres of New York, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Velázquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wexton, Ms. Wild, Mr. Williams of New York, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, and Mr. Panetta) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
RESOLUTION
Supporting the goals and ideals of October as “National Domestic Violence Awareness Month”.
Whereas this resolution may be cited as the “Original National Domestic Violence Awareness Month Resolution of 2024”;
Whereas intimate partner violence affects people of all ages as well as all racial, ethnic, gender, economic, and religious backgrounds;
Whereas an average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States, amounting to more than 12,000,000 women and men over the course of a single year;
Whereas, in 2023, the National Domestic Violence Hotline answered more than 460,000 calls, chats, and texts about services, more than any other year before;
Whereas, of the reported abuse types, 93 percent of those who contacted the National Domestic Violence Hotline disclosed emotional abuse, 64 percent stated they experienced physical abuse, 35 percent described economic or financial abuse, 20 percent revealed digital abuse, and 11 percent detailed sexual abuse;
Whereas 76 percent of those who contacted the National Domestic Violence Hotline identified as victims or survivors; 11 percent identified as friends, family members, or other helpers; and 13 percent identified as other, such as those working with survivors or even those causing the harm;
Whereas women are largely the victims of domestic violence, as approximately 1 in 2 women, compared to 2 in 5 men, will experience intimate partner violence or stalking during their lifetimes;
Whereas survivors of domestic violence are strong, courageous, and resilient;
Whereas, on average, almost 3 women are murdered by an intimate partner in the United States every day;
Whereas women ages 18 to 34 experience the highest rates, per capita, of intimate partner violence;
Whereas more than 1 in 4 women and more than 1 in 5 men who were victims of contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner first experienced these or other forms of violence before age 18;
Whereas nearly 1 in 3 college women say they have been in an abusive dating relationship;
Whereas more than 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped, and more than 4 in 5 will experience violence in their lifetimes;
Whereas African-American women experience intimate partner violence at a rate 35 percent higher than that of White women and about 2.5 times the rate of women of other races, but African-American women are less likely than White women to use social services or battered women’s programs or to go to the hospital because of domestic violence;
Whereas in research conducted by the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, 16 to 55 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander women reported experiencing domestic violence (physical, sexual, or both) during their lifetimes;
Whereas, according to the National Intimate and Sexual Violence Survey, 42.1 percent of Latina women are victimized by intimate partner violence, defined by rape, physical assault, or stalking, in their lifetime;
Whereas one study of 2,000 Latinas found that 63.1 percent of women who identified being victimized in their lifetime reported having experienced more than one victimization, with an average of 2.56 victimizations;
Whereas victims of domestic violence report hesitation calling law enforcement and accessing victims services due to uncertainty arising from fear of prosecution for unrelated activities, including immigration status;
Whereas the average cost of intimate partner violence over a victim’s lifetime for medical and mental health care services is $103,767 for women and $23,414 for men;
Whereas, of women who die by homicide, 34 percent are killed by an intimate partner or former intimate partner, which is 5 times higher than the number of men killed by an intimate partner or former partner;
Whereas women victims are more vulnerable to contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) due to forced intercourse or prolonged exposure to stress;
Whereas multiple nationwide studies suggest that there is a relationship between intimate partner violence, depression, and suicidal behavior;
Whereas 21 to 60 percent of domestic violence victims report that they have lost a job due, at least in part, to domestic violence;
Whereas some domestic violence victims who have protection orders or other indications that they are victims are evicted from or denied access to housing;
Whereas 1 in 4 homeless women are homeless because of violence committed against them, and 92 percent of homeless women experience severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lifetimes;
Whereas a review of 12 United States studies, most of which included data from multiple cities, shows that domestic violence incidents increased 8.1 percent after jurisdictions imposed pandemic-related lockdown orders;
Whereas 13.5 percent of women and 5.2 percent of men report having been stalked by an intimate partner;
Whereas 81 percent of women who are stalked by a current or former male partner are also physically abused by that partner;
Whereas, of total domestic violence homicides, about 75 percent of the victims were killed as they attempted to leave the relationship or after the relationship had ended;
Whereas between 94 to 99 percent of abusive relationships include financial abuse, causing the survivors to stay or return to the abusive relationship;
Whereas more than 8,000,000 days of paid work each year are lost due to domestic violence issues; and the financial cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $12,000,000,000 per year;
Whereas 96 percent of employed domestic violence victims experience problems at work due to abuse;
Whereas 1 in 15 children is exposed to physical intimate partner violence each year, and 5.7 percent were exposed to psychological intimate partner violence each year;
Whereas children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, and become victims of human trafficking;
Whereas 1 large study found that men exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse, and adult domestic violence as children were almost 4 times more likely than other men to have perpetrated domestic violence as adults;
Whereas 73 percent of male abusers were abused as children;
Whereas 1 in 10 high school students has experienced violence, either physical or sexual, from a dating partner in the past year;
Whereas half of the youth who have been victims of both dating violence and rape attempt suicide, compared to 12.5 percent of nonabused girls and 5.4 percent of nonabused boys;
Whereas there is a need for primary schools, secondary schools, and postsecondary schools to educate students about the issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking;
Whereas a recently released multistate study shows that the Nation’s domestic violence shelters are addressing victims’ urgent and long-term needs and are helping victims protect themselves and their children;
Whereas a 2023 survey by the National Network to End Domestic Violence reported that 76,975 domestic violence victims were served by domestic violence shelters and programs around the Nation in a single day;
Whereas an additional 13,335 requests for services went unmet that day due to lack of resources and 54 percent of these requests were for housing needs;
Whereas most murdered transgender women are killed by intimate partners;
Whereas transgender individuals are 2.2 times more at risk of physical intimate partner violence, and 2.5 times more at risk of sexual intimate partner violence than cisgender individuals;
Whereas a 2018 analysis on the killings of women in 47 major United States cities during the previous decade found that nearly half (46 percent) of them died as a result of intimate partner violence;
Whereas 61.1 percent of bisexual women, 43.8 percent of lesbian women, 37.3 percent of bisexual men, and 26 percent of homosexual men experience intimate partner violence during their lifetimes;
Whereas domestic violence advocates provide lifesaving, essential services;
Whereas there is a need to increase, not reduce, funding for programs aimed at intervening in and preventing domestic violence in the United States; and
Whereas October is an appropriate month for the observance of “National Domestic Violence Awareness Month”: Now, therefore, be it
1.

Short title
This resolution may be cited as the “Original National Domestic Violence Awareness Month Resolution of 2024”.
2.

Supporting national domestic violence awareness month
The House of Representatives—
(1)
supports the goals and ideals of “National Domestic Violence Awareness Month”; and
(2)
expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should continue to raise awareness of domestic violence and its devastating effects on individuals, families, and communities, and support programs designed to end domestic violence in the United States.