[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 128 (Wednesday, October 5, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11121-S11124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT, S. 1197

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the full Senate has 
finally taken up, considered and passed the reauthorization of the 
Violence Against Women Act, S. 1197, bipartisan legislation that will 
further our goal of ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual 
assault, and stalking. The enactment of the Violence Against Women Act 
over a decade ago marked an important national commitment to survivors 
of domestic violence and sexual assault. I am proud to join Senators 
Biden, Hatch, Specter, and others as an original cosponsor of this 
important measure, which currently has 58 cosponsors in total. I want 
to especially recognize Senator Biden for his commitment to ending 
violence against women and children.
  Earlier in my career as a prosecutor in Vermont, I witnessed the 
devastating effects of domestic violence. Violence and abuse affect 
people of all walks of life every day and regardless of gender, race, 
culture, age, class or sexuality. Such violence is a crime and it is 
always wrong, whether the abuser is a family member, someone the victim 
is dating, a current or past spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend, an 
acquaintance or a stranger.
  The National Crime Victimization Survey estimates there were 691,710 
nonfatal, violent incidents committed against victims by current and 
former spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends--also

[[Page S11122]]

known as intimate partners--during 2001. Of those incidents, 85 percent 
were against women. The rate of nonfatal intimate partner violence 
against women has fallen steadily since 1993, when the rate was 9.8 
incidents per 1,000 people. In 2001, the number fell to 5.0 incidents 
per 1,000 people, nearly a 50-percent reduction but still unacceptably 
high. Tragically, however, the survey found that 1,600 women were 
killed in 1976 by a current or former spouse or boyfriend, while in 
2000 some 1,247 women were killed by their intimate partners.
  According to the annual Vermont Crime Report, the number of forcible 
rapes reported in Vermont increased in 2004 to the highest level in 7 
years, while the amount of violent crime remained unchanged and overall 
crime fell by about 5 percent from 2003. Reported incidents of rape 
rose by 58 percent, from 117 in 2003 to 185 in 2004. The average age of 
the victim was 21, 47 percent of victims were younger than 18 years 
old, in 74 percent of the cases the perpetrator was an acquaintance of 
the victim, and in a quarter of the cases the defendant was a family 
member or intimate partner of the victim. In only 1 percent of the 
cases was the perpetrator a stranger. These figures cause me great 
concern because violent crime has declined nationwide during that same 
time period. Numbers like these are why reauthorizing VAWA is so vital.
  Our Nation has made remarkable progress over the past 25 years in 
recognizing that domestic violence and sexual assault are crimes. We 
have responded with better laws, social support, and coordinated 
community responses. Millions of women, men, children and families, 
however, continue to be traumatized by abuse, leading to increased 
rates of crime, violence and suffering.
  The Violence Against Women Act has provided aid to law enforcement 
officers and prosecutors, helped stem domestic violence and child 
abuse, established training programs for victim advocates and 
counselors, and trained probation and parole officers who work with 
released sex offenders. Now we on the Judiciary Committee and then the 
rest of our colleagues in Congress have the opportunity to reauthorize 
VAWA and make improvements to vital core programs, tighten criminal 
penalties against domestic abusers, and create new solutions to other 
crucial aspects of domestic violence and sexual assault. This is an 
opportunity to help treat children victims of violence, augment health 
care for rape victims, hold repeat offenders and Internet stalkers 
accountable, and help domestic violence victims keep their jobs.
  Included in VAWA 2005 are reauthorizations of two programs that I 
initially sponsored that are vital to helping rural communities battle 
domestic violence in a setting in which isolation can make it more 
difficult for both victims and law enforcement. In a small, rural State 
such as Vermont, our county and local law enforcement agencies rely 
heavily on cooperative, interagency efforts to combat and solve 
significant problems. That is why I sought to include the rural 
domestic violence and child victimization enforcement grant program as 
part of the original VAWA. This program helps make services available 
to rural victims and children by encouraging community involvement in 
developing a coordinated response to combat domestic violence, dating 
violence and child abuse. Adequate resources combined with sustained 
commitment will bring about significant improvements in rural areas to 
the lives of those victimized by domestic and sexual violence.
  The rural grants program section of VAWA 2005 reauthorizes and 
expands the existing education, training and services grant programs 
that address violence against women in rural areas. This provision 
renews the rural VAWA program, extends direct grants to State and local 
governments for services in rural areas and expands areas to include 
community collaboration projects in rural areas and the creation or 
expansion of additional victim services. This provision includes new 
language that expands the program coverage to sexual assault, child 
sexual assault and stalking. It also expands eligibility from rural 
States to rural communities, increasing access to rural sections of 
otherwise highly populated States. This section authorizes $55,000,000 
annually for 2006 through 2010, which is an increase of $15 million per 
year.
  The second grant program initiative on which I have focused is the 
transitional housing assistance grants for victims of domestic 
violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking. This program, 
which became law as part of the PROTECT Act of 2003, authorizes grants 
for transitional housing and related services for people fleeing 
domestic violence, sexual assault or stalkers. At a time when the 
availability of affordable housing has sunk to record lows, 
transitional housing for victims is especially needed. Today more than 
50 percent of homeless individuals are women and children fleeing 
domestic violence. We have a clear problem that is in dire need of a 
solution. This program is part of the solution.
  Transitional housing allows women to bridge the gap between leaving 
violence in their homes and becoming self-sufficient. Our bill, VAWA 
2005, amends the existing transitional housing program by expanding the 
current direct-assistance grants to include funds for operational, 
capital and renovation costs. Other changes include providing services 
to victims of dating violence, sexual assault and stalking; extending 
the length of time for receipt of benefits to match that used by 
Housing and Urban Development transitional housing programs; and 
updating the existing program to reflect the concerns of the service 
provision community. The provision would increase the authorized 
funding for the grant from $30,000,000 to $40,000,000.

  Regrettably, this important bill was saddled in committee with an 
extraneous and ill-considered amendment, offered by Senator Kyl, 
relating to the national DNA database. Current law permits States to 
collect DNA samples from arrested individuals and to include arrestee 
information in State DNA databases. In addition, States may use 
arrestee information to search the national DNA database for a possible 
``hit.'' The only thing that States may not do is upload arrestee 
information into the national database before a person has been 
formally charged with a crime.
  Under the Kyl amendment, arrestee information can go into the 
national database immediately upon arrest, before formal charges are 
filed, and even if no charges are ever brought. This adds little or no 
value for law enforcement, while intruding on the privacy rights of 
people who are, in our system, presumed innocent. It could also provide 
an incentive for pretextual and race-based stops and arrests for the 
purpose of DNA sampling. Congress rejected this very proposal less than 
a year ago, after extended negotiations and consultation with the 
Department of Justice.
  The Kyl amendment would also make it harder for innocent people to 
have their DNA expunged from a state database. Under current law, if a 
State chooses to enter a person's DNA profile into its database before 
the person is convicted of a crime, then the State must automatically 
expunge that information in the event that no conviction is obtained. 
Under the new language, even a person who is arrested in error and 
released without charge would need to obtain a court order before his 
DNA information could be removed from the database.
  Databases are important tools to solving crime, but there are limits 
to what should be included in databases. The Kyl amendment raises 
serious privacy concerns that cannot be justified by any legitimate law 
enforcement need. I opposed it in committee, I continue to oppose it in 
its current form, and I will press for its exclusion in conference.
  VAWA 2005 is an important part of our efforts to increase awareness 
of the problem of violence, to save the lives of battered women, rape 
victims, and children who grow up with violence and to continue 
progress against the devastating tragedy of domestic violence. I look 
forward to working with Senators Specter and Biden, Congressmen 
Sensenbrenner and Conyers and other members of the upcoming conference 
to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and thus strengthen the 
prevention of violence against women and children and its devastating 
costs and consequences.

[[Page S11123]]

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, last night, the Senate passed by unanimous 
consent the Biden-Hatch--Specter Violence Against Women Act of 2005, S. 
1197. It is a testament to the underlying goals of this legislation 
that this legislation was unanimously passed and garnered 57 cosponsors 
from both sides of the aisle. I would like to thank Chairman Specter 
for his unyielding efforts to get this bill passed, and I would like to 
thank Senator Hatch for his longstanding support for this effort. The 
act expired on September 30. The House has passed its legislation, so 
it is imperative that we get the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 to 
conference and to the President's desk immediately.
  The Violence Against Women Act of 2005 makes many critical 
improvements to the original act that we passed over 10 years ago. Many 
in this Chamber are well aware that I consider the Violence. Against 
Women Act the single most significant legislation that I have crafted 
during my 32-year tenure in the Senate. Indeed, the enactment of the 
Violence Against Women Act in 1994 was the beginning of a historic 
commitment to women and children victimized by domestic violence and 
sexual assault. Our Nation has been rewarded for this commitment. Since 
the act's passage in 1994, domestic violence has dropped by almost 50 
percent, incidents of rape are down by 60 percent, and the number of 
wowen killed by an abusive husband or boyfriend is down by 22 percent. 
Today, more than half of all rape victims are stepping forward to 
report the crime. And since we passed the act in 1994 over a million 
women have found justice in our courtrooms and obtained domestic 
violence protective orders.
  ``This is a dramatic change from 10 years ago. Back then, violence in 
the household was treated as a ``family matter'' rather than a criminal 
justice issue. Because we took action, the criminal justice system is 
much better equipped to handle domestic violence, and it is treated for 
what it is, criminal. The goal of the legislation passed is to usher 
the Violence Against Women Act into the 21st century. With this 
legislation we attempt to look beyond the immediate crisis and takes 
steps to not only punish offenders, but to also do more to help victims 
get their lives back on track, and prevent domestic violence and sexual 
assault from occurring in the first place.
  This bill is truly a cooperative effort. As Senator Hatch, Senator 
Specter and I drafted this bill, we listened closely to suggestions 
from both sides of the aisle, and we listened carefully to the input 
from those with wide ranging opinions on how to combat this problem. In 
particular, we listened to those who are on the front lines fighting to 
end violence, such as police officers, emergency room nurses, victim 
advocates, shelter directors, and prosecutors. Based upon these 
discussions, we made targeted improvements to existing grant programs 
and we tightened up the criminal laws.
  The groups that assisted with drafting this bill included the 
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Network to 
End Domestic Violence, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, Legal 
Momentum, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, the National 
Center for Victims for Crime, the American Bar Association, the 
National District Attorneys Association, the National Council on Family 
and Juvenile Court Judges, the National Association of Chiefs of 
Police, the National Sheriffs' Association and many others. I would 
personally like to thank them for the work that they do each and every 
day to make our Nation a better, safer place for its citizens.
  No doubt, the bill that we have passed today is ambitious. We have 
made tremendous strides in treating domestic violence and sexual 
assaults as public crimes over the past 10 years. We have helped ensure 
that offenders were held accountable, and we created coordinated 
community responses to help victims. The Violence Against Women Act of 
2005 will help us look beyond the immediate crisis and provide long-
term solutions for victims, and we will redouble our prevention 
efforts. This is why we included important efforts to ease the housing 
crisis for victims fleeing their homes, included efforts to engage boys 
and men to prevent domestic violence from occurring in the first place, 
enlisted the healthcare community in identifying and treating victims, 
and to help stop the cycle of abuse suffered by immigrant women and 
provided tough new regulations for international marriage brokers to 
ensure that they provide foreign brides with information related to the 
background of their potential husband and their rights if they are 
abused.
  Despite all of the strong points of this legislation, it could be 
made better. In particular, I had hoped that provisions from Senator 
Murray's Security and Financial Empowerment Act, SAFE, would have 
remained in the bill. This amendment would provide some fundamental 
economic protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual 
assault. Just as the Family Medical Leave Act protects individuals 
caring for a sick loved one, the SAFE Act would allow domestic violence 
victims to take time off from work to appear in court cases and other 
judicial proceedings without jeopardizing their employment at a time 
they need it the most. The SAFE Act is important legislation, and I 
believe that there is bi-partisan support for it. Unfortunately, we 
were not able to reach a consensus on this amendment and, as a result, 
it is not part of this final bill. It is my hope that the Senate will 
revisit this issue soon, and I look forward to working with Senator 
Murray in this effort.
  One of the primary concerns expressed about the bill is that it 
simply costs too much. This is certainly understandable given our 
Nation's financial situation right now, but I have always said that the 
safety of the American people is the single most important 
responsibility for Federal, State, and local governments. And, while 
money doesn't solve every problem, there are very few, if any, efforts 
related to preventing violence and fighting crime that can be solved 
without money. As such, it is simply a fact that this effort will 
continue to cost money. I would argue that the results over the past 10 
years show that this has been money well spent, and I hope that the 
Congress will continue to fund these efforts. In fact, there is 
evidence that we have received a net return on this investment. A 2002 
university study found that money spent to reduce domestic violence 
saved nearly ten times the potential costs through the years of 1995 
and 2000. During that time, the Federal Government spent $1.6 billion 
for the act's programs and, as a result, we avoided spending an 
estimated $14.8 billion on medical, legal and other victimization costs 
that arise from domestic violence. On an individual level, the bill 
costs roughly $15.50 per woman in the United States and saves an 
estimated $159 per woman. This evidence suggests that our success in 
ending family violence cannot be signal to reduce funding, rather, it 
is a call to continue to do more. We simply can't afford to lose the 
gains that we have made. We have found a winning combination, and we 
need to stick with it.
  The Senate's action today demonstrates that eradicating violence 
against women is truly a shared goals, one that is held by Democrats 
and Republicans, one that is upheld by men and women, and one that is 
desired by both Government and by the private sector. I would like to 
thank my colleagues of the Senate for their support of this important 
legislation. In particular, I want to thank Senator Hatch, a long-
standing champion on this issue. Since 1990, Senator Hatch and I have 
worked together to end family violence in this country, so it is no 
great surprise that once again he worked side-by-side with us to craft 
today's bill. I am also deeply indebted to Senator Kennedy for his 
unwavering commitment to battered immigrant women and his work on the 
bill's immigration provisions. I also thank Senator Leahy who has long-
supported the Violence Against Women Act and, in particular, has worked 
on the rural programs and transitional housing provisions. Finally, I 
want to thank my very good friend from Pennsylvania for his commitment 
and leadership on this bill. It is a pleasure to work with Senator 
Specter, and I want to thank him for expeditiously moving this 
legislation through the Judiciary Committee and through today's action 
by the Senate. I look forward to working in the future with all of my 
colleagues to ensure that we continue to strive to the important goals 
of the Violence

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Against Women Act of 2005. This effort will require a bi-partisan 
commitment.
  Again, I am thankful to Senators Reid and Frist for their work on 
seeing that bill is passed and to all of my colleagues who unanimously 
supported the Violence Against Women Act of 2005.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, last evening, S. 1197, ;the Violence 
Against Women Act, was passed out of the Senate. I commend the 
Judiciary Committee for including Title 9, Safety for Indian Women, in 
its bill to reauthorize the act. Title 9 focuses on the needs of Indian 
tribes to enable them to reduce and treat incidents of domestic 
violence in Indian country. Among other things, it would authorize the 
creation of tribal criminal history databases to document domestic 
violence convictions and protection orders and it creates a new Federal 
criminal offense authorizing Federal prosecutors to charge repeat 
domestic violence offenders before they seriously injure or kill 
someone. S. 1197 also would authorize the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
police and certain tribal officers to make arrests for domestic 
violence assaults committed outside of their presence.
  Since 1999, the Department of Justice has issued various studies 
showing that Indian women experience the highest rates of domestic 
violence compared to all other groups in the United States. These 
reports state that one out of every three Indian women are victims of 
sexual assault; that from 1979 to 1992, homicide was the third leading 
cause of death of Indian females between the ages of 15 to 34; and that 
75 percent of those deaths were committed by a family member or 
acquaintance. What we don't know, however, is the impact of these 
violent acts on law enforcement, judicial, mental or medical services 
in Indian country. I am, therefore, pleased to see that this bill would 
authorize a comprehensive study of domestic violence in Indian Country 
to gauge the impact of these acts to Indian tribes and their resources. 
The findings of such a study will help the Congress and the 
administration to better focus resources to areas with the greatest 
need.
  Earlier this Congress, Senator Dorgan and I introduced the Restoring 
Safety to Indian Women Act. We worked closely with the Senate Judiciary 
Committee to ensure that the provisions of this bill, some of which I 
mention here, were given due consideration. Throughout the more 
comprehensive S. 1197, Indian tribes would be eligible for various 
grants to enhance their victim services, judicial function, and law 
enforcement service capacity to the same extent as State and local 
governments are eligible.
  Domestic violence is a national problem and not one that is unique to 
Indian country. Yet, due to the unique status of Indian tribes, there 
are obstacles faced by Indian tribal police, Federal investigators, 
tribal and Federal prosecutors and courts that impede their ability to 
respond to domestic violence in Indian country. Title 9 of this bill 
goes a long way toward removing these obstacles at all levels and to 
enhance the ability of each agency to respond to acts of domestic 
violence when they occur. These critical changes to the current law 
will greatly curb violence against Indian women, and perhaps even save 
lives.
  Again, I thank the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 
their thoughtful consideration in drafting a bill that includes an 
often forgotten segment of our population, the Nation's Indian tribes.

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