Mikulski Puts Funds in Federal Checkbook to Address Sexual Assault and Violence Against Women

Press Release

U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 includes $430 million for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). This is the highest funding level for OVW programs. The overall CJS spending bill provides a total of $28 billion to the Department of Justice to fight crime and terrorism, and protect communities and families.

The legislation is currently under consideration in the House of Representatives. The Senate is expected to take it up later this week.

"This legislation meets a compelling human need. No woman in this country should live in fear that her husband or boyfriend will hurt or kill her or her kids," Chairwoman Mikulski said. "I have zero tolerance for domestic violence. If you are beaten and abused, you should have somewhere to turn for help and a path to recovery. That's why I make sure this bill provides robust support for grant programs that focus on early prevention and intervention to help protect women and their families from continued abuse, particularly during economically distressed times when abuse is more common. I will continue to fight for strong investments in programs to combat domestic abuse, dating violence and sexual assault and help rebuild lives."

The CJS spending bill included within the Omnibus funds multiple competitive and formula grant programs that support training for police officers and prosecutors; state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions; rape prevention programs; lethality assessment and homicide reduction initiatives; national domestic violence hotlines; battered women's shelters and transitional housing support services; help for teens and young adults caught in abusive relationships; victims of child abuse; and funding for counselors of rape victims during trials.

Domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking are crimes of epidemic proportions, exacting terrible costs on individual lives and our communities. Twenty-five percent of U.S. women report that they have been physically assaulted by an intimate partner during their lifetimes, 1 in 6 have been the victims of rape or attempted rape, and the cost of domestic violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year.

The CJS spending bill also provides $41 million for a new competitive grant program to support multi-disciplinary community response teams tasked with developing and implementing comprehensive reform regarding sexual assault, including reducing the backlog of sexual assault kits at law enforcement agencies. Once a backlog is acknowledged and kits begin to be tested, communities are still left to grapple with the enormous task of not just finding a way to test all of their backlogged kits, but also investigating and prosecuting these cases, reengaging victims in the process, and addressing any systemic failures that led to the creation of the backlog in the first place.

"Testing alone is not enough. As Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, I made sure my FY2015 bill funds this program at $41 million to test backlogged kits in police storage facilities, investigate and prosecute cases connected to the backlog and provide victims the services they need," Chairwoman Mikulski said. "These federal funds will help bring perpetrators to justice and ensure victims have a government on their side."

Longstanding grant programs that fund State and local crime labs in their efforts to improve the processing and testing of DNA evidence are funded in this bill as well. The Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Program is funded at $12 million and the Justice Department's DNA Initiative, which includes the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Program, is funded at $125 million.

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