Violence Against Women Act
I recieved this response from Senator Rick Santorum--PA, in my regular mail, this week.
Dear Mrs. XXX,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Violence Against Women Act. I appreciate hearing from you and having the benefit of your views.
You may be interested to know that as a member of the House of Representatives in the 103rd Congress, I supported H.R. 1133, the origional Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), offered by Representative Pat Schroeder of Colorado. As a member of the United States Senate, I remain firmly committed to providing federal funding for the prevention of crimes against women and restitution for the victims of such violence.
During the 106th Congress, I was an origional cosponsor of S.2787, the Violence Against Women Act , introduced by Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware. This bill reauthorized federal programs to prevent violence against women. It seeks to strengthen law enforcement to reduce these acts of violence, provide services to victims, strengthen education and training to combat violence against women, and limit the effects of violence on children. I was pleased that S. 2787 was included in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act Conference Report, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President , in October 2000.
VAWA programs are funded through the annual Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary appropriations bill. The Senate and House versions of the FY 2005 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bills were combined with several other appropriations bills into one final spending measure (H.R. 4818). On November 20, 2004, the House passed the FY 2005 Omnibus Appropriations bill by a vote of 344 to 57, and the Senate passed this measure with my support by a vote of 65 to 30. This legislation provides $387 million for violence against women prevention and prosecution programs for FY 2005. The President has requested $515 million for VAWA funding for FY 2006.
Thank you for your input. If I can be of further assistance on this or any other federal matter, please feel free to call on me again.
Sincerely,
Rick Santorum
United States Senator