Domestic Violence Leave Act

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and as a compliment to my colleagues who just left the floor, I'd like to compliment them for the bipartisanship that was shown. And perhaps bipartisanship is becoming in vogue because this is a bipartisan effort as well.

It is my firm belief that our Nation, while we have some differences on many issues, we do want to unite

around issues that are crucial and critical to all of us. I salute what they have done, and I look forward to this hour of bipartisanship as well.

I'm honored to be joined today on the floor by my colleague, the Honorable Ted Poe from Texas. He and I have been sponsoring this resolution on domestic violence for some years--since 2005, I believe-- and I am honored that he is here with us today. I will be giving a statement. And after my statement, I will yield to my good friend from the State of Texas, in the Houston area. Thereafter, we have other Members who are present who would of course want to weigh in on this subject. But before I do, let me just thank the leadership on both sides of the aisle for making this time available to us. It's important that we have this opportunity to address this issue not only here in Congress, but address it in such a way as to make it clear to our friends and our constituents at home that this is something that is exceedingly important to us, the issue of domestic violence.

So Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the time. I thank the leadership for the time. And I thank all of the Members who will be appearing today for the time that they will share with us.

I'd like to, at this time, present my opening statement. Thereafter, I will yield as I have indicated.

Mr. Speaker, there are several Federal actions that have been instituted over the past 20 years to combat the issue of domestic violence. I shall highlight some of the many actions that have been taken.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month was first observed 22 years ago in the month of October. This month provides an opportunity for our communities to recommit themselves to keeping the victims and the families of domestic violence safe while holding the perpetrators accountable for their actions.

I'm honored to say that the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which was championed by then-Senator Joe Biden, has created a new culture for police officers, judges, and those who work in the courthouse to treat this crime as the serious crime that it is, and it is a serious crime. I look forward to supporting the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. And I want to say, by way of a little bit of commentary, that I was a lawyer practicing before we had a change in this culture. And I saw how this culture that existed at that time devastated the lives of many persons who were victims of domestic violence because there was this thought that this was something that was a family issue, that it was something that people should resolve themselves, they should try to work things out. I thank God that that attitude no longer exists, and that if it does exist in some quarters, we are working to change it. I would also add that the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act supports emergency shelters, crisis intervention programs, and community education about domestic violence.

This Congress has done much to try to reach out not only to the victims, but also to the various communities against the length and breadth of the country to make sure that communities are well prepared and equipped to help those in need of some assistance.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided law enforcement with the tools it needed to protect families. It specifically included $225 million for Violence Against Women programs and $100 million for programs that are a part of the Victims of Crime Act. These funds will supplement Federal dollars so that local providers can retain and hire the personnel to serve victims and hold offenders accountable. We also provided critical funding for law enforcement to keep cops on the street and to support law enforcement programs and services through the Byrne Grant program. In 2010, 854 local domestic violence programs received stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which allowed them to maintain or create 1,384 jobs.

Awareness of domestic violence is growing. All over this country and over the last several decades the work of many individuals and organizations has created a sea of change in the way we as a society look upon the issue of domestic violence. Police, courts, and the public used to consider it a private family matter, as I indicated previously. Not surprisingly, domestic violence was close to, if not the, number one underreported crime in this country. Today, there is much more awareness. And we have started to pass critical legislation at both the State and Federal levels so that we can combat domestic violence properly.

We have made a substantial impact on the lives of domestic violence survivors through laws, programs, services, and funding, but our jobs are not yet done. We have seen much progress. However, there is still much more to be done. In the year 2010, a survey was done by the National Network to End Domestic Violence. This survey found that in one day, while more than 70,000 people received help from domestic violence programs, over 9,000 requests for help went unanswered because of a shortage of resources.

Many victims continue to suffer in silence, and for many others who do come forward, there simply are not enough resources available. Victims of domestic violence should have access to medical and legal services, counseling, transitional housing, safety planning, and other supportive services so that they can escape the cycle of abuse.

The problem of domestic violence is not confined to any one group of people but crosses all economic, racial, gender, educational, religious, and societal barriers, and it is sustained too often by societal indifference. Make no mistake about it, when domestic violence occurs, it has a long-term damaging effect. And it has this effect on the victim, but not only the victim; it also leaves a mark on the family of the victim, the friends, and the community at large.

In my home State of Texas, according to the Texas Council on Family Violence--and this is a special report; it indicates that 37 women in Harris County, a county where my district happens to be--37 women lost their lives due to domestic violence in 2010. One hundred forty-two women were killed by their intimate partners in 2010. There were 56 occurrences of murder-suicides in Texas in 2010, which often left children without one or both of their parents. Three 17-year-old high school students were murdered in Texas in 2010. Five pregnant women were murdered in Texas in 2010. No year is a good year for the victims of domestic violence, and 2010 was no exception.

The current statistics are staggering. One in every four women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime. Three women are killed by an acquaintance or former intimate partner each day in America, on average. The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year, including $4.1 billion in direct health care expenses. Domestic violence has been estimated to cost employers in the U.S. up to $13 billion annually.

Sexual violence is intolerable in our society because it creates a cycle of violence.

As many as 15.5 million children witness domestic violence every year in our country. Children who are exposed to this sort of violence are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crimes.

Men exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse, and adult domestic violence as children were almost four times more likely than other men to have perpetrated domestic violence as adults, according to a large survey that has been reported.

This is a call to action. Let us rededicate ourselves to the goal of ending violence against women and helping heal the lives of domestic violence survivors and their families. No one should have to live in fear in their own home, and we must continue to work to eliminate these acts of violence from our society.

Nearly 1.3 million women will confront violent acts this year. America's leaders and our Nation's families must not let this stand. Let us continue to work to end domestic violence and make every home a safe home.

I urge my colleagues to stand with us and support the survivors and their families by supporting the programs that target this insidious ill of domestic violence.

At this time I am honored to yield to my colleague and friend from Houston, Texas (Mr. Poe).

Mr. Speaker, would you please make me aware of the amount of time that remains to us.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

I thank the gentleman for his comments.

At this time, I am honored to bring to the floor a very dear friend from the State of California who has been an outspoken supporter of all of these bills to help victims of domestic violence, the Honorable Lynn Woolsey.

I thank you for your words, and I trust that you will continue the fight. You have been an outstanding champion for women's rights.

At this time, I am honored to yield to the Honorable Barbara Lee, the former chairperson of the CBC and a great Member from the State of California.

I thank the gentlelady from California.

How much time do we have remaining, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you very much.

At this time, I yield to another Californian, the Honorable Jim Costa.

I thank the gentleman for his words.

I now yield to the gentlelady from Texas, who is a colleague, and we share a common boundary in the State of Texas--our districts are adjacent to each other--the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee.

I thank the lady.

I now yield to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Speier). I would also add that this is a colleague who served with me on Financial Services, and I found that she has been a strong advocate for the rights of women.

I thank the lady, especially for citing the statistical information. It is important for our Nation and our country to understand that these are real people who are being harmed and that this is not something that occurs in some segments of society. This crosses all lines--economic lines, gender lines, political lines--and it's up to us to have bipartisan efforts to end this.

I'm honored that my friend, Mr. Poe, has joined us today, as this has been a bipartisan effort. But we've got to get this message back to the communities because indifference is what allows this to continue to a certain extent. No one should be indifferent. Everybody has a duty to report it, everybody has a duty to condemn it. And if we do this, then we can make every person who performs an act of violence persona non grata in our communities.

I want to thank the Speaker for the time. One hour is never enough to cover all that we should cover, but I'm grateful to the leadership for giving us the 1 hour that we've had.

I thank the gentleman for yielding and thank you for your leadership on this issue. I appreciate you, Congressman Green. We've known each other a long time. Thirty years ago we both started as young buck lawyers at the Harris County Courthouse in Texas and tried cases against each other, you as a defense lawyer, me as a prosecutor. You continued to work in the defense category until you assumed the role of a judge in Houston. And so it's good to see you again, and I appreciate your leadership on this very important issue.

Some people may not know but Judge Green and I, we disagree on some political things, but on some basic human rights issues we're very strong advocates and work together. And I appreciate your civility and ability to work together on important issues such as domestic violence awareness.

This is an important issue, Mr. Speaker, and it's good that we recognize the importance of understanding how domestic violence occurs in our country and how we should recognize the important people that are involved as victims of domestic violence.

I, too, remember the days when domestic violence was not a case where the police really got involved. Certainly, as a former prosecutor, we never saw those cases. Society's attitude about domestic violence was, It's not our problem, it's not a crime, it's their problem, it should stay in the family situation. Thank goodness, after many, many years of that, really, philosophy in this country and other countries who still have that philosophy, in the United States that's not the philosophy of our culture any longer; that in the family situation, spouses have the legal responsibility and the moral responsibility to treat each other with the dignity that they deserve as another human being.

The most important person in my life has always been my grandmother. She lived to the age of 99. She told me a lot of things that I understood. She kept it in a simple way. Congressman Green, you'd be glad to know that she never forgave me for being a Republican. She actually said I'm not sure you can go to heaven being a Republican. I think she meant it. That's unfortunate.

But anyway, she said something that was true then many years ago that's true today. She said, you never hurt somebody you claim you love. And that's true. We should have that attitude in this country. And in family situations, people should not hurt people in that family they claim to love. But that happens, and it happens on a regular basis.

Congressman Green's given a bunch of statistics, especially from our home State of Texas, where this dastardly crime behind closed doors occurs every day in the United States. And we, as a society, cannot tolerate it. And I commend all the various victims rights groups, the women's groups who are continuing to make us aware of this problem and how to help solve this problem.

You know, the Violence Against Women Act is something that this Congress needs to reauthorize. The VOCA funding should be reauthorized, Violence Against Crime Act. This legislation started way back with President Reagan. It's a novel idea.

Here's the way it works, Mr. Speaker. Criminals who go to our Federal courts and are convicted of a crime, the Federal judge, many times, will order them to pay into the Crime Victims' Fund. That is a fund of money that goes to crime victims, and that fund is important for these services that help these victims' service groups throughout the country.

I understand that today there's almost $6 billion in the Crime Victims' Fund. Now, let's make it clear. This is not taxpayer money. This is money that criminals pay to help the people they've hurt. It's kind of like paying the rent on the courthouse, make them pay for the crimes they created. And it's a great idea.

But every year, and not only under this administration, but previous administrations, we have the same problem with the bureaucrats. They want to take that money that belongs to crime victims and use it for other purposes, and it doesn't belong to other purposes. And it's our duty, as Members of Congress, to make sure that fund is sufficient and the fund goes where it's intended, and that's to crime victims, not for some other purpose, even paying off the debt, because it doesn't come from taxpayers.

After spending 22 years on the criminal bench in Houston hearing felonies, everything from stealing to killing, there were a lot of people who came down to the courthouse, other than defendants, that didn't want to be there, and many of those were crime victims. But they were picked, many of them, spouses, they were picked by someone who claimed they love them, and they were hurt. Sometimes they didn't have the ability to live through the injuries that they sustained. They were murdered by a spouse. And we cannot tolerate that.

That's one of the reasons, when I got to Congress, along with Jim Costa from California, bipartisan, we started the Victims Rights Caucus, a caucus made up of both sides of the aisle to focus on the importance of crime victims and making sure that we take care of them.

There were two situations I'd like to mention. We have not far from here, over in Maryland, a wonderful lady by the name of Yvette Cade. Yvette Cade was separated from her husband, and she had gone to represent herself in a court of law in Maryland, and the judge, for some reason, did not extend the restraining order against her spouse that was supposed to stay away from her.

So when that wasn't renewed, she is working, in a video store, and her husband comes in the video store with a jar of gasoline and pours that gasoline over Ms. Yvette Cade, and set her on fire, all caught on video. Thank goodness for some people in the store who did the best they could to rescue her and put out the fire. And it was--and she survived that awful attack on her.

Now, she's a remarkable woman. She's got a spirit that I just do not understand--even though she was burned over most of her body, and it's a person who claims to love another that caused that crime. And we, as a culture need to reach out to people like Yvette Cade, wonderful lady, and make sure that, not only they're taken care of, but there are not more of them.

Another case was one that I heard back in Houston. It was a little girl. Every day--she was a second-grader--she would catch the bus to go to school somewhere in Houston. One day the bus driver pulls up in front of her house, and she would not get off the bus. She would not. She refused to get off the bus.

She's hanging on that seat in front of her, Mr. Speaker. And the bus driver comes back and tells her, says Lily, you need to get off the bus. This is your house. And she's crying, refused to get off the bus. And she finally told the bus driver, I only feel safe when I get on the bus in the morning and during the day, but I'm not safe when I get off the bus.

And that's because behind those closed doors in the silence of horror, she and her mother were assaulted on a daily basis. Thank goodness for that bus driver who intervened. Law enforcement got involved, and the person was prosecuted mainly for what he did to his wife, Lily's mother. And there's case after case after case that occurs like this. And we need to be constantly aware of this situation, this crime, understand it's not only a crime, but it's a health issue. It's a health issue for Americans, for those people that are hurt behind those closed doors.

So I commend the gentleman from Texas, my friend, Mr. Green, and also the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa), the co-chairman of the Victims Rights Caucus, for their leadership on this issue, making sure that we keep Domestic Violence Awareness Month something that we understand and promote and let people know out there in America that we have this tremendous problem, but we're going to stay on top of it and solve this problem.

And that's just the way it is.

I thank my colleague, and thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green) for hosting this Special Order on domestic violence, and I thank Congressman Poe for his participation as well.

Imagine you were beaten at the hands of your boyfriend or husband, maybe in front of your child. Imagine that before you were able to call the police, your attacker fled. But he doesn't get far before the police catch him and throw him in jail. But days later he is set free, not on bail but with a clean record. And he's angry. More so because he first beat you, and now he wants to get revenge because you caused him to be arrested. No, this isn't a scene from a horror movie. It is, instead, a dose of reality from Topeka, Kansas, where the city council voted earlier this month to repeal the city law against misdemeanor domestic battery.

The council claimed that budget woes required this act of public policy cowardice. By repealing this law, Topeka sent a clear message to the women: your safety is not a priority; we will not protect you if you are victimized; we will not hold your spouse, former spouse, boyfriend, or live-in accountable if they assault you. You are on your own.

And this happened in a city where a domestic violence murder occurs every 10 days; a domestic violence incident occurs every 22 minutes; and a person is--or I should say was--charged with domestic violence every 41 minutes. But no more in Topeka, Kansas.

These are tough times for local and State governments. Everyone is being asked to do more with less. Difficult choices must be made. But let me say this without hesitation: the choices made during difficult times reflect who we are as Americans, who we are as human beings, and our mutual respect for the law. The Topeka decision is another example of how women in this country are becoming second-class citizens, or chattel, or even less.

We shun our global neighbors who allow violence to openly occur without repercussions. Today, as we recognize Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the more than 1 million victims who are terrorized every year, I urge each and every State and locality in our great country to take a stand against what just occurred in Topeka, Kansas. Shame on Topeka, Kansas. Shame on them for not recognizing one of the most grievous acts that occurs in a local community. Domestic violence is one of the most reported incidents and one of the ones that police, frankly, are the more concerned about going out to because more often than not there is violence associated with it.

For the sake of the nearly 16 million children who are exposed to domestic violence each year, and the women who are abused every 9 seconds, we must recommit ourselves to supporting domestic violence victims.

Speaking of tough times, domestic violence shelters know a thing or two about pinching pennies. Three-quarters of the shelters nationally report losing money from government sources since the recession. And as their belts are tightened, the demands for their services have only increased. For the third straight year, 80 percent of shelters nationwide are reporting an increase in domestic violence cases.

I was always struck when I was in the State legislature that there were three times as many animal shelters as there were battered women shelters. It says volumes about where our priorities are in this country.

Three out of four shelters attributed the rise in violence to financial issues. Almost half said that those issues included job loss, and 42 percent cited the loss of a house or car. More than half of the shelters also reported that domestic abuse is more violent than it was before the financial crash. Studies shows that abuse is three times as likely to occur when a couple experiences financial strain. Take note: A 5-year study reveals that when a man experienced two or more periods of unemployment, he was almost three times as likely to abuse his female partner.

The irony with Topeka's decision is that domestic violence is expensive to the communities where it is more prevalent, and I'm not talking about the cost of prosecutions. I'm talking about the $8 billion to $10 billion in lost productivity, medical bills, and other costs. In fact, between one-quarter to one-half of domestic violence victims report that they lost a job at least in part due to domestic violence. And if we do not prevent these crimes and penalize those who commit them, we will

pay tenfold in the years to come. Studies show that 60 percent of the nearly 16 million children who witness domestic abuse every year mimic it later in their lives.

We have our work cut out for us, but one thing that defines our country is the notion that anyone who abuses another human being, woman or man, will be brought to justice. When Topeka, Kansas, decriminalized domestic violence earlier this month, we took a huge and unacceptable step backwards. In honor of the victims who have lost their lives to domestic violence and those who live in fear every day, let us recommit ourselves today to their safety.

I thank you again, Mr. Green.

Let me thank Congressman Al Green and Congressman Poe for convening us today on such a very important topic that includes the issue of domestic violence in this Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, it's been my privilege, sadly, however, to have worked on the Violence Against Women Act for a very long time and be an original cosponsor and author of the reauthorization of that bill some years ago.

My initial premise on this day that we express our concern is that the laws need to be stronger. I simply want to acknowledge, as we have worked on these issues, that domestic violence has not decreased in spite of the hardworking advocacy groups and places of refuge for the women in our community.

I want to acknowledge the Houston Area Women's Center, of which I served as a member of the board for a number of years, and the great work that they do, along with many other organizations in the Houston area that are refuges for women.

But let me cite these numbers to you:

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 85 percent of all domestic violence victims are women. I

do want to acknowledge that men suffer domestic violence as well. We are sympathetic and want to include them in fighting against this dastardly deed.

It is disturbing that every 9 seconds a woman in the United States is assaulted or beaten. More often than not, she knows her abuser. The numbers are alarming.

Between 2000 and 2005, about 63 percent of nonfatal intimate partner victimization against women occurred at home, 9.4 percent of these attacks were near home, and 11.1 percent of the abuse occurred at a friend's or neighbor's home. The aggressors were often intimate partners, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers.

Every year, nearly 5.3 million women over the age of 18 will be victims of domestic violence. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this violence will result in nearly 2 million injuries and 1,300 deaths.

In the State of Texas, for example, at least 74 percent of Texans know someone who has experienced some form of physical, sexual, or verbal abuse, yet these incidents remain underreported because there is great fear.

According to the Houston Area Women's Center, which, as I indicated, I served as a member of the board, 142 women were murdered in Texas by an abusive partner. The youngest of these victims were only 17 years old and the oldest was 78. In 2007, the center served over 2,800 survivors of domestic violence and took almost 39,000 calls.

As I conclude, I want to just give this brief story of a recent 17- hour attack that occurred in Houston, which was noted as one of the worst local domestic abuse cases ever. A man's tortured wife follows years of abuse, and this lady never reported it because of a fear of the impact or the abuse or the violence against her four children. While this horrific act was taking place, it was occurring while her 1- year-old daughter was in another room.

This 33-year-old woman was violated by this vicious man with a long record of absolute insanity and violence using a hairspray can and a lighter match and taking a match with that hairspray to her breasts and her genitals. Right now I stand on this floor in absolute outrage. Sheriff Adrian Garcia likened the suspect to an animal and that he is-- rabid dog.

The terrible part of this is that he is charged with assault to a relative. I, frankly, want him to be charged with a much more heinous act because--in many instances when you are charged with this particular action, which the legislature probably thought that these were relatives against relatives, but this was a heinous act--this gentleman should never see the light of day. And there are actors like this around the Nation--and around the world, by the way, because there is that kind of violence around the world--that should never see the light of day.

As we continue to work on this, I will continue to advocate funding, as I provided funding for our local agencies in Houston. I will continue to champion stronger laws to prevent, if I can, in terms of the stronger laws and intervention, so that women can have the strength to go to places like the Houston Area Women's Center and to save them from this heinous and dastardly act. This woman will be mutilated for life and will have to have reconstructive surgery--again, a can of hairspray and a lighter match for 17 hours while her 1-year-old child remained in the room.

Let me thank, again, our colleagues for allowing us to come to the floor and, again, let me make a commitment to all of the women out there and those in Houston and Texas that I will never step away from fighting for you not to suffer this indignity. Please, leave the home and go to a refuge like the Houston Area Women's Center and other places to save your life.

Let me thank Congressman Al Green and Congressman Ted Poe for their leadership in organizing this Special Order on domestic violence. It is critical to speak out against domestic violence and to call attention to Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but it is extremely important to hear from men and to recognize your leadership on this.

As someone who understands domestic violence on a deeply personal level, I know how traumatic this experience is and of the strong, consistent support system needed to emerge as a survivor. I also know from personal experience that domestic violence is not only physical; it is emotional. It is brutal, dehumanizing to the batterer and the battered, and without strong and enforceable criminal laws and services, one's life can be shattered and destroyed.

As a survivor of domestic violence, once elected to the California legislature, I knew I had to do something. I am so glad to see my colleague, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who was then in the legislature at that time. We worked so hard on domestic violence issues. I will never forget that I was able to write California's Violence Against Women Act. I wrote many, many domestic violence bills that were signed into law by a Republican Governor. In coming to Congress now, again we've worked together in cosponsoring numerous bills in Congress to support victims of domestic violence and to prevent domestic violence.

In my home district of Oakland, we've also worked extensively with A Safe Place, which is a victim-centered agency, because we know that staying in a shelter or working with an advocate significantly reduces the chances that a victim will be abused again and that it will improve the victim's quality of life. A Safe Place in Oakland is Oakland's only comprehensive domestic violence program for battered women and children. They provide both shelter and professional supportive services to victims of domestic violence, and have truly been a vital agency in my district.

A Safe Place has served Oakland for 34 years, and earlier this month, held its 10th annual walk against domestic

and teen dating violence. This walk continues to call attention to the issues of dating and domestic violence in the City of Oakland, building vital partnerships with law enforcement, the criminal justice system and faith-based organizations to better serve the community and the region. Their programs and services are designated to address the many complicated--and I mean these are complicated issues--which affect victims of domestic violence and are a true blessing to my constituents in my community. It is my hope that we use Domestic Violence Awareness Month to recommit ourselves to fighting the scourge of violence against women and men.

We've had some accomplishments over the decades on this issue, but challenges still remain. Around the world, nearly one in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Here in the United States, as many as one in three American women reports being physically or sexually abused by a husband or a boyfriend at least once in her life. Children who see or experience domestic violence have a much greater chance to become either victims or perpetrators as adults. They're also more likely to attempt suicide, use drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit other crimes.

Beyond the cost to children, domestic violence affects the community with as many as half of the domestic violence victims reporting a loss of a job at least in part due to domestic violence, so cuts to domestic violence programs should not even be on the table. Women make up 70 percent of the deaths--mind you, deaths--caused by intimate partner violence, and services for abused heterosexual men and for those in the LGBT communities are clearly nonexistent.

Although this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we can't just work on this during October. We must remember that, for men, women and children who are experiencing, or who have experienced, domestic violence, every day must be a day of awareness as well as a day free from emotional badgering, physical assaults, harassment, stalking, and every other violent behavior which constitutes domestic violence.