Stuck in the Senate with the Violence Against Women Act, a bill that would help domestic violence victims
“When I knew I had to leave,” Victoria told me, “I only had my two kids. No money. No place to go.” Victoria is not the real name of a woman in her early 30s, a native Mississippian who had left an abusive partner. We met when she was a plaintiff in Vicksburg’s domestic violence court.
President Biden’s goal was for the Senate to reauthorize the 2021 Violence Against Women Act in his first 100 days. Because VAWA funds shelters and services for battered women, it provides Victoria and victims like her with a “place to go.” But although VAWA has passed the House, it is marooned in the Senate, along with the Victims of Crime Act, which needs updating.
First passed into law in 1984, VOCA helps crime victims in other ways besides punishing criminals. It set up the Crime Victims’ Fund, most of which goes toward services for victims, including those who have suffered domestic violence. (The fund is underwritten with fines paid by convicted federal offenders, along with private donations -- not by taxpayers.) VOCA is especially important to women like Victoria who are fleeing abusive situations and taking their children with them.
The Victims of Crime Act, which needs updating but is stalled in the Senate, helps those who have suffered domestic violence, like women fleeing abusive situations and taking their children with them. Shutterstock
An abusive partner like Victoria’s often has complete control of the household finances; a woman who has a job must turn over her paycheck to him, and account to him for every penny she spends on the household. If she leaves, she may have no money at all to look for a new home or a job, or to pay for child care. She may not have any experience setting up a budget or balancing a checkbook. As a result, too many battered women become homeless, along with their children. VOCA supplements state victim compensation funds to pay for medical bills, counseling, lost wages, etc.
For women like Victoria, VOCA can make a crucial difference. On June 21, 2021, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, with Newtown Action Alliance, held a day of action to pressure Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer, D-NY, to bring VOCA to the floor for a vote. Schumer’s office did not reply to requests for comment.
VOCA has encountered other unexpected obstacles because of more federal prosecutions and non-prosecution agreements. Any fees or fines associated with these types of prosecutions go into the General Treasury, not the Crime Victims Fund. Over the last four years, federal grants to victim services through VOCA have been cut by two-thirds.
On June 17, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a strong supporter of victims of domestic violence, requested unanimous consent to pass the bipartisan VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act, which would redirect monetary penalties from federal deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements into the Crime Victims Fund. The impact of the deposits fix is on the money available for victim services. The bill increases the federal contribution to state victim compensation funds from a 60% to 75% match.
But Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., objected, even though the VOCA Fix has strong support from many victims’ rights and law enforcement groups, including the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the National Association of Attorneys General. In November 2020, Toomey had already introduced his own bill, the Fairness for Crime Victims Act, which he said would prevent Congress from withdrawing discretionary funds instead of providing them to crime victims. According to the national coalition, the bill would actually prevent Congress from growing the Crime Victims to provide a supplement for low deposit years.
On June 8, 2021, 1,710 organizations and government agencies representing many thousands of victims across the country wrote to Schumer, Durbin, Murkowski and other ranking members of the Senate, begging them to pass the VOCA Fix and not to cut the Crime Victims Fund. During the national coalition’s day of lobbying on June 21, volunteers and staff spoke to every Senate office. On June 24, Durbin once again asked for unanimous consent to pass the VOCA Fix. Once again, Toomey objected.
Members of the coalition will lobby the Senate again on July 15 and Sept. 22, immediately after their annual conference in Washington, D.C. I will report back to you about their progress.
Ann Marie Cunningham is a Columbia University Lipman Fellow for 2020 who will be working with the Mississippi Center for investigative Reporting. She is a veteran journalist/producer and author of a best-seller. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Technology Review, The Nation and The New Republic. Contact her at amc@mississippicir.org.