We Have Much to Report! After months of inaction, the Senate has passed two funding bills of importance to sexual assault advocates! Below is information on the two funding bills that provide critical resources for programs within the Violence Against Women Act: the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill and the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS) Appropriations bill.
October 27, 2007 Includes funding levels for programs affecting sexual and domestic violence for Fiscal Year 2008.
CJS
We are happy top report that on October 18, the Senate passed the FY 2008 CJS Appropriations bill and included an amendment that would provide $10 million more to VAWA programs! The amendment was offered by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and provides:
$5 million to partially restore the cut the Senate CJS Committee had previously proposed to Grants to Encourage Arrest and Enforcement of Protection Orders;
$4 million for Engaging Men and Youth in Prevention Efforts; and
$1 million for a National Resource Center on Workplace Responses to Assist Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence.
VOCA
The Appropriations Committees in both the House and the Senate recommended a FY 2008 VOCA cap of $625 million. This would be the fifth year in a row without an increase in the total VOCA cap. However, during the House debate an amendment was offered by Reps. Ted Poe, Jim Costa and Dennis Moore which would raise the VOCA cap to $635 million. Unfortunately, a similar amendment was not offered in the Senate. Click here for the VOCA Cap Fact Sheet which provides valuable information on why the VOCA cap should be raised.
And remember, the Senate CJS appropriations bill, along with the House CJS appropriations bill contains $10 million for the Sexual Assault Services Act (SASP).LHHS
On October 23, the Senate passed the LHHS Appropriations bill which provides $606 billion in appropriations for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education as well as for some independent agencies such as the Social Security Administration. Of the total, $149.9 billion is proposed discretionary spending, which is close to $10 billion more than proposed in the President’s budget request and $5.4 billion over FY 2007. In addition, the Senate version is close to $2 billion less in proposed discretionary spending than its House counterpart, a difference that needs to be resolved through conference. In terms of the LHHS bill in the Senate, the Appropriations Committee funded violence against women programs at $181 million, with RPE funded at $45.4 million.Next Step
The next step is the House and the Senate will “conference” the two different appropriations bills together and work out their differences, pass the new version in both chambers and then send to the President for his signature. HOWEVER! The President has threatened to veto any spending bill that provides more money than he had requested for a specific agency in his FY 2008 budget plan. Shutting down the government, according to Bush, is not something he will hesitate to do…and by vetoing the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) earlier this month, he has proved that he has no qualms in using his veto power.
Take Action
We will keep you updated as this process moves forward. In the meantime, please take a moment to contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know how important it is to override a threatened Presidential veto. Tell them about the financial need of rape crisis centers in your State to provide both direct services for victims as well as prevention programs!
