Martha Roby: “Thank you so much to the gentlelady from North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I rise today in favor of the reauthorization of…”

“Thank you so much to the gentlelady from North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I rise today in favor of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and just want to say, even after VAWA's enactment roughly 8 years ago, one in four women still experience domestic violence during their lifetime. Moreover, more than 2 million adults and 15 million children are exposed to such violence annually. According to the Alabama Coalition against Domestic Violence and the Alabama National Census Summary, in Alabama there are 834 victims served in one day, 187 hotline calls answered in one day, and 76 unmet requests for services. These numbers are astounding, and something must change. Organizations have reported that they have been unable to provide services for a variety of reasons: the top three being, there's not enough staff, there's not enough specialized services, and there's not enough available beds or hotel vouchers to provide safe havens for victims and their children. As an original cosponsor of the Violence Against Women Act, today I stand here supporting the Republican reauthorization. This bill brings greater accountability to the grant administration by ensuring that funding will support and assist victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, and will not be kept in the pockets of Washington bureaucrats.…”