[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 144 (Thursday, September 11, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S8367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, today I take this opportunity to recognize 
October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, DVAM, and to recognize 
the fine work of STAND! Against Domestic Violence.
  I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the bill to designate 
October as ``National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.'' I strongly 
support the motivation behind DVAM and I have worked to end domestic 
violence as long as I have been a Member of Congress. I authored the 
Violence Against Women Act, VAWA, while in the House of 
Representatives, and helped get it passed and signed into law after 
being elected to the Senate. VAWA toughened laws against perpetrators 
and continues to provide funding for campus safety, battered women's 
shelters, and training programs for law enforcement to identify and 
better understand cases of domestic violence. I am also proud to have 
introduced the Domestic Violence Identification and Referral Act to 
provide funding to schools for health professionals who work to prevent 
domestic violence.
  Domestic violence can strike anyone, regardless of race, age, sexual 
orientation, religion, socioeconomic status or education level. 
Particularly tragic is the impact domestic violence has on children--
physically, emotionally, and mentally. This violence witnessed in the 
home is often acted out in schools and communities. This negative cycle 
of violence has far-reaching impacts and I believe we must work 
together to prevent such violence from occurring in the first place.
  I commend the tireless efforts of those who work everyday to end this 
violence. For over 30 years, STAND! has provided domestic violence 
services to families and individuals throughout Contra Costa County. 
Through their work, STAND! strives to end domestic violence by raising 
awareness through education so that individuals will become advocates, 
and by providing support services to those survivors of domestic 
violence.
  As we prepare to enter Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I ask my 
colleagues to join me and STAND! in remembering the victims of domestic 
violence. I am inspired by those women who have survived domestic 
violence. And I mourn those who have not survived. In their memory, I 
will fight against domestic violence and work to empower women as long 
as I am in the U.S. Senate.

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