Karen Bass: “Mr. Speaker, I rise as a supporter and cosponsor of the Violence Against Women Act. I cannot go further without thanking…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise as a supporter and cosponsor of the Violence Against Women Act. I cannot go further without thanking my colleague the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) for the enormous energy and persistence that she has displayed in pushing this bill forward in a just-in-time fashion. As we have heard before, the Department of Justice estimates that up to 4 million women are physically abused by their husbands or live-in partners each year. This is absolutely unacceptable. Family violence costs this Nation upwards of 10 billion annually in medical expenses, police and court costs, shelters and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism, and non-productivity. But the real toll on America is really more costly than that. It is non-quantifiable. What domestic violence really is is probably the saddest aspect of our culture in our civilization. And there is no victim worse than the children that are in these households and that are subject to the types of problems that exist in areas where there is physical and emotional abuse in the household. For the past 5 years, the Violence Against Women Act has helped address these underlying causes and has provided desperately needed crisis services for victims and survivors.”