[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1003-H1004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Graves). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer comment on a 
source of poor women's health that is one hundred percent preventable--
injuries and deaths caused by domestic violence. The injuries, mental 
and emotional conditions of women and their children who are the 
witnesses or victims of domestic violence could be prevented, but there 
is a lack of resolve on the part of Congress to make this a top 
priority.

  The dynamics of domestic violence are all encompassing and usually 
starts as emotional abuse that evolves into physical abuse that can 
result in serious injury or death on not only women, but also the 
children living in that home.
  As a result, the federal government has moved to establish Violence 
Against Women and training programs that serve the young victims of 
domestic violence who either experience or witness violence.
  It is alarming to note that according to the National Coalition 
Against Domestic Violence, between 50 and 70 percent of men who abuse 
their female partners also abuse their children. Moreover, at least 3.3 
to 10 million American children annually witness assaults by one parent 
against another. Consequently, the children of domestic violence are at 
a high risk of anxiety and depression and often experience delayed 
learning skills.
  Mr. Speaker, domestic violence affects women of all cultures, races, 
occupations, and income levels. Ninety-two percent of reported domestic 
violence incidents involve violence against females.
  Although domestic violence effects women across all racial and 
economic lines, a high percentage of these victims are women of color. 
African American women account for 16 percent of the women who have 
been physically abused by a husband or partner in the last five years. 
African American women were the victims in more than 53 percent of the 
violent deaths that occurred in 1997. This is why we must continue to 
fund programs like the Violence Against Women Grants that also fund 
projects to encourage arrests of the perpetrators of these most 
dreadful crimes.
  I am joining my colleagues of the Women's Caucus to express concern 
about the plight of women's health in our nation, but to also include 
in that debate the negative health effects of domestic violence on our 
nation's women.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also like to bring awareness to the specific 
problems within my state of Texas. In Texas, there were 175,725 
incidents of family violence in 1998. An estimated 824,790 women were 
physically abused in Texas in 1998. Of all of the women killed in 1997, 
35 percent were murdered by their intimate male partners. In 1998, 110 
women were murdered by their partners.
  A new member of my staff is an advocate against and survivor of 
domestic violence and she offers this message to those who seek to 
remedy this situation. On March 18, 1990, she made the difficult 
decision to end her marriage of fourteen years, which was plagued by 
marital abuse. From her experience she has committed her life to 
advocating for and assisting women in crisis. ``Women often do not want 
the relationship to end, they want the violence to stop!'' Instead of 
seeing women as helpless victims they are in fact courageous survivors 
who work hard to preserve their families. The women of which I speak 
was the organizer of the City of Houston's first Candlelight Vigil in 
observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. She was asked by Vice 
President Al Gore at a White House ceremony, unveiling postage stamps 
with the National Domestic Violence Hotline number on the cover, to 
tell her story.
  An example how important federal efforts in this area are 
demonstrated by the impact that VAWA grants have had on services in the 
local community. In Houston, we have the Houston Area Women's Center 
which operates a domestic violence hotline, a shelter for battered 
women and counseling for violence survivors. The center provides all of 
its services for free.
  Furthermore, this center maintains an invaluable website that allows 
anyone to access information about domestic violence resources and 
support networks.
  Over 34,000 women in Houston called for counseling services in 1997 
for family violence. This counseling included services for women with 
children and teenagers who have also survived violence. The shelter 
housed 1,062 women and children and assisted close to 2,000 with other 
forms of services.
  The Texas Council on Family Violence has used VAWA funds for several 
projects as well. These include the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 
Technical Assistance and Model Policies and Procedures Project, the 
Texas Domestic Violence Needs Assessment Project and the Domestic 
Violence Rural Education Project.
  Unfortunately, the STOP Grant funding for the Texas Council on Family 
Violence has decreased within the last 2 years from $8 million in 1999 
to $8.5 million in 2000. Because the funding level for the Violence 
Against Women Grants has remained at the same level as fiscal year 
2000, it is imperative that we increase funding so that these vital 
programs will be

[[Page H1004]]

properly funded as we move into the new millennium.
  As the public service announcement of the Texas Association Against 
Sexual Assault indicates, ``Most people think rape happens in a dark 
alley. That beautiful women are the usual victims. But sexual violence 
isn't really about sex, it's about power. And it can happen to anyone, 
anywhere . . .''
  Mr. Speaker, the Violence Against Women Grants and the 
Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women's Act are the most 
important weapons that women and men have in this country to ensure 
that gender-motivated violence does not continue to increase in this 
society. I ask my colleagues to support these and other legislative 
initiatives in this Congress so that we may move forward, not backward 
in our fight to end domestic violence everywhere.

                          ____________________