[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 24, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S527-S528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE:
  S. 161. A bill to establish the Violence Against Women Office within 
the Department of Justice; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to 
make the Violence Against Women Office a permanent office in the 
Department of Justice. After the passage of the Violence Against Women 
Act in 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice administratively created 
the Violence Against Women Office. Over time, the office's duties and 
responsibilities have included administering Violence Against Women Act 
grant programs, providing technical assistance and training to improve 
justice system responses in communities across the country, and 
providing leadership in developing the Administration's policies on 
violence against women. Led by a Presidentially-appointed Director, the 
Violence Against Women Office has had an enormous impact on social 
attitudes in this country about the nature

[[Page S528]]

and effects of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. As a 
result of the office's high profile work, the urgent issue of violence 
against women has come into much sharper public focus.
  Making permanent the Violence Against Women Office in the Justice 
Department is necessary to extend VAWA's benefits to all corners of the 
country. The office has been the leader in promoting a multi-
disciplinary, community-coordinated system response to violence against 
women. Additionally, it has a specialized knowledge of the best 
practices in the field to ensure that the grant funds are well 
utilized. A statutory mandate would guarantee that the Violence Against 
Women Office will continue this specialized work in future 
Administrations, ensuring that Congress' goals regarding domestic 
violence, sexual assault, and stalking will be carried out with the 
same professional expertise that we have grown to appreciate over the 
past six years.
  This office is needed now more than ever. Violence against women 
continues to ravage our society. In my own state, 40 women were 
murdered by their partners in the year 2000 alone. This is more than in 
any other year on record. Nationally, a woman is battered every 15 
seconds and 25 percent of women surveyed reported rape or physical 
abuse by a current or former spouse, partner or date.
  The effects of these crimes extend far beyond the moment when they 
occur. One of the most compelling marks that violence against women 
leaves is on our children. It is estimated that between 3 and 10 
million children witness violence in the home each year, and much of 
this violence is persistent.
  Studies indicate that children who witness their fathers beating 
their mothers suffer emotional problems, including slowed development 
and feelings of hopelessness, depression, and anxiety. Many of these 
children exhibit more aggressive, anti-social, and fearful behaviors. 
Even one episode of violence can produce post-traumatic stress disorder 
in children.
  It is indisputable that even one incident of abuse inflicts a pain on 
our children that is unimaginable and often unending. It is also 
indisputable that domestic violence is devastating to the economic and 
physical well-being of women and their families. For example, a study 
reported on in the St. Paul Pioneer Press found that 57 percent of the 
women surveyed said they had been threatened to the point that they 
were afraid to go to school or work. Thirty percent were fired or left 
a job because of abuse. 25 percent of homeless people on any given 
night are women and children fleeing domestic abuse. 800,000 women per 
year seek medical care as a result of injuries sustained in a sexual or 
physical assault.
  As this research indicates, violence against women permeates our 
society. It feeds on itself and it repeats itself generation after 
generation. People who try to keep family violence quiet and hidden 
behind the walls of the home ignore its tragic echoes in our schools, 
in the workplace and on the streets. The Federal Government must always 
play a role in combating this insidious epidemic. In the fight against 
domestic violence, we are at the starting gate. Domestic Violence is 
not going away and we as policy makers need to keep efforts to combat 
violence against women at the forefront of our work.
  With the Violence Against Women Office's leadership, we will continue 
to work together to bring justice to millions of women who suffer at 
the hands of abusers everywhere. Through its work, we will ensure our 
commitment to arrive at a day when many fewer women are threatened in 
our schools, in our businesses, on our streets and in our homes. I urge 
my colleagues to support this critical office and the critical role we 
in the Federal Government can continue to play in the fight against 
domestic violence, and I urge them to cosponsor this important measure.
                                 ______