Nancy Pelosi: “I commend Congresswoman DeGette for bringing this motion to the floor and I thank her, Congresswoman Slaughter, and…”

“I commend Congresswoman DeGette for bringing this motion to the floor and I thank her, Congresswoman Slaughter, and Congresswoman Baldwin for their leadership on this issue. The Violence Against Women Office of the U.S. Department of Justice was created in 1995 to implement the Violence Against Women Act. The creation of this office greatly strengthened the efforts of states to fight domestic violence, because for the first time, they had strong leadership and funding support from the federal government. Under President Clinton, the Violence Against Women Office was a powerful voice within the Administration. The Director had strong support from the White House, and was a recognized leader in the fight to end domestic violence. It was clear that the safety of women and children was a top priority for the federal government. Under the leadership of President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft, the Violence Against Women Office has been systematically weakened. Just within the last two months, the policy department of the Violence Against Women Office disappeared, and the Director of the office has no access to the Attorney General or the President and no seat at the table to affect the policies of this Administration with concern to violence against women. This is one of a series of actions by this Administration to diminish the importance of women's issues.”